Troubles in Time
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Right as she was about to die, Kushina gets a new lease on life! A mysterious ritual pulls her nearly five years into the future, where she discovers her original name and parents. Can Kushina complete Shinigami's mission for her, or will her son remain an orphan because of a war that has been going on for decades on the other side of the world? Kushina/Minato FEMHARRY!
1. Chapter 1

All of her life had been leading up to this. Her chakra chains were about to break as the Fox tried to escape the sealing. Most of his Yin chakra had been sealed inside her. The Yang had been sealed entirely in her tiny son.

Suddenly, she felt her stomach being pierced by the claw...right as something else yanked at her from the pit of her navel. The sealing was incomplete, but most of the chakra had been sealed into her. About 75 to 80 percent of the chakra was now inside her.

She felt like her body was being squeezed into a space far too small for her body. Her bones and body were being squished into something much smaller. She could feel it changing, and she didn't like it one bit.

The only thing that didn't change were her chakra coils...and her personality.

Finally that awful sensation stopped, and she could barely see something.

She was inside some odd summoning circle and she could smell blood not her own. Before her was an old man and a dour man with greasy black hair. She felt like she had been torn up and put back together in an entirely different way, and she was pissed.

"_It would appear the ritual was successful, Severus."_

"_Not quite. She appears to be suffering from some sort of injury. Should I take her to Pomphrey?"_

"_Do it. Just make sure she is ready for the new school year in time to be sorted."_

"_As you wish..."_ the greasy man grumbled. It was clear that while he held some measure of respect for the man, he didn't like working with him.

She blacked out, unable to stay awake.

* * *

Poppy Pomphrey was not a woman to be crossed when there were injured students around. So when the potions master came in with a red haired girl barely a first year with possible internal bleeding, she pushed him out of the way and went to work.

The girl had severe internal bleeding, several ruptured organs, and extreme magical drain. Not to mention what appeared to be backlash.

"What the hell happened to this girl?!" she demanded.

"Albus couldn't find the Potter girl, so he went and found a ritual to bring her to us. At most she should have had some magical drain..."

"This girl looks like she had a run in with Bellatrix Lestrange armed with curses to destroy internal organs! What the bloody hell sort of ritual did you two do?!"

"I have no idea which one he used. All I know is that it brings the person specified here and drains the core in the process. If you want to yell at anyone yell at him. He's the one who was in charge of the damn ritual. I just supplied the potion."

Poppy prepared to really light into the Headmaster. The girl could have died if left alone after such a dangerous ritual! Though the sheer speed her body took in the potions and repaired itself was almost impossible. She could only assume that the girl's magic was working on overdrive.

* * *

She woke up feeling like hell. Her chakra had gone into healing overdrive...and she felt like she had had a nasty hangover...only without the buzz of the night before.

"What the hell?!" she growled.

When she looked down at her body, she nearly started cursing up a storm.

Her body had reverted to that of an eleven year old girl! All those years spent as a kunoichi, all that hell she spent during puberty...

AND SHE HAD TO START ALL OVER?!

Someone was going to pay for this outrage!

Suddenly a woman who felt like Tsunade only less frightening appeared. It took a few seconds to realize where she was, even if the place was very under equipped. Not a single electronic to be seen, but plenty of medicinal smells.

She hated being in hospitals!

"Who the hell are you and what happened to me?!" she growled.

The nurse clicked her tongue in disapproval, though considering how she ended up here she didn't blame the girl for being angry.

"My name is Madam Pomphrey...as for what happened, the headmaster was foolish enough to perform a dangerous ritual without thinking about the consequences to for the other people."

"Then where am I? I know I'm no where near my home," she asked.

"You are in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in Scotland. Can I at least have your name?"

Poppy knew full well that while the ritual brought the Potter's lost daughter here, she may not call herself that anymore.

"It's Kushina. Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina. Also called the Red Hot-Blooded Habernaro, but that's mostly a nickname," said Kushina.

* * *

It took her a week to get used to the fact that she wasn't able to go home immediately...and that the date was almost six years in the future. Her son would be five, turning six in October.

And she was stuck halfway across the world because some old geezer wanted her to play the part of a girl that went missing ten years ago after taking out the resident Orochimaru.

(His name was Moldy-something, but once Snape described him she immediately linked his name to an Orochimaru wannabe that didn't have half the Snake Sannin's charm.)

Her body had regressed to her eleven year old self, which according to Snape was what her age was _supposed_ to be in the first place. Apparently her odd chakra (which was part of the reason why she had been chosen to hold the Kyuubi in the first place) had taken her at least twenty years in the past...and that was part of the reason why her body had taken a lot of strain.

She had to time travel to get here! Coupled with the fact that she had taken heavy damage when the Fox had impaled her (which was the internal damage Poppy had to treat rather quickly) and she had been near death.

Kushina had at least gotten them to quit calling her Potter. She vaguely remembered the odd lightning scar they spoke of, but a few hours after the Kyuubi had been placed in her that thing had healed over with a foul smell and a hiss.

"Are you ready to get your supplies?" asked Snape.

"Just drop me off at that bank. I can ask for directions, and I really see no need to waste your precious time brewing medicines showing me around."

Snape, once he got over the shock of her rough personality, grew to like her as a student. Kushina loved gardening as a hobby and her cooking skills had become very good when she first had to cook her own meals. (That was roughly when she moved to Konoha.) The fact that she at least respected his privacy more than the old man did only put her higher in his regard.

Though he really pitied the old fool when he tries to make a move. The girl had a natural occulmency barrier in her mind, and she had the ability to shrug off suggestions like no one he had ever met. When she mentioned her ability to overthrow most poisons, he had subtly tested it with her permission...and discovered that Kushina had a natural immunity to most potions other than ones that healed.

Which meant any love or compulsion potions would be useless.

Snape told her how to use the floo, and gave her a second small pouch so she could use it back to his office. As far as the old man knew, he had left with the girl.

He trusted her to handle Diagon Alley on her own.

* * *

Kushina walked into the bank, and set off half the alarms. Apparently the goblins were well aware of demons (like the Kyuubi) and by walking in with almost all of the Fox's Yin chakra she had set them off.

Once the goblins took her aside, they were very surprised when a potion test revealed that not only was she the missing Potter girl, but she had a large amount of demonic energy in her! However once she demonstrated that the demonic energy didn't affect her in any way aside from a small boost, they calmed down enough to help her with her banking.

Kushina left with a large bag of gold placed in a seal that would allow her to withdraw what she needed without having to haul the bag everywhere. The goblins had been very interested in her sealing ability...so she gave them her copy of a beginning Seal Master book.

She walked into the bookstore and quickly became disgusted with how the magicals portrayed her. Really, a Bishoujo who would save them no matter what? And she didn't have such ridiculous looking green eyes. Sure they were jade, but they weren't that idealized! And the mere thought of her wearing glasses (apparently everyone expected her to be as nearsighted as her father...she had corrective surgery under Tsunade to fix that before she became a genin!) annoyed her greatly.

She did leave after buying more than the required books, using a slight henge to get around the issue of her being too young to buy some of them. She could only hope the fiction romance novels were better than the _Icha Icha_ crap Jiraiya sold...the man couldn't proofread to safe his life!

Her next stop was Knockturn Alley. Someone had told her that Ollivander sold pre-made wands and that simply didn't appeal to her. She wanted custom, not one that this _Ministry_ could trace.

Her KI alone kept some of the shadier people away, and she cheerfully bantered with some of the so called Dark Creatures about the books in the stores. They seemed surprised that an obvious pure blood bothered to speak to them as equals.

Because of that one of them directed her to a small shop that sold custom wands, though at a slightly higher price.

"Come in, come in. Ah, I didn't expect the Potter child to visit my shop for her first wand...or should I say the Princess of Whirlpool?" said the woman cheerfully.

"I prefer the other title, actually," she admitted.

"Very well, Misses Uzumaki, let's find your true wand shall we?"

Kushina went through various wand woods, only to settle on a block that came from a blessed cherry blossom tree that bloomed all year round inside a haunted mansion. Rumors had it that the mansion was occupied by demons of all ranks. Her core was fur from the tail of a demon thief called Youko Kurama, which had vanished back in his homeland ten years ago. To that Kushina added a link of her chakra chain that she used to restrain the Kyuubi.

Once it was done, the wand was exactly nine inches long and polished to a red shine. Kushina could feel the Kyuubi chakra being pulled into the core, and with a wave a tiny fox ghost appeared. She grinned, and for the first time felt at ease with her new body.

"If I were you deary, I would get a wand at Ollivanders just to keep that meddling old man out of your way. Knowing him he used your blood to make brother wand to the one the Sannin wannabe has," advised the woman.

"Thanks for the tip. I didn't know it was possible for brother wands to be made."

"Indeed. Having two wands with the same core from the same source causes the _Priori Incantatem _effect, and cancels each other out every time."

"Good thing I don't rely on wands to kill people," said Kushina.

She went into the other wand store and got the wand the other shopkeeper mentioned. This one felt like a discordant note to her, so she decided not to use it unless she had to. If the old man _had_ used her blood from when she was an infant, he had no idea that it had changed since then.

For starters, the residual proteins from being pregnant had altered it slightly, and since she had given birth mere hours before being pulled through time they were still present...and according to Tsunade would be for at least a month after. Not to mention the Kyuubi, which had altered it even more. Her blood wasn't too different from her infant self, but it was enough to cause problems with her second wand.

And the fact that she got it while the proteins from carrying Naruto for nine months were still present when it first bonded to her...yeah, she would be lucky if the thing misfired.

Before she made the trip back, all her new purchases inside the seals she had on her (the shopkeepers had all be suitably impressed with them), she stopped by the pet shop. Most animals (notably cats...like that damn Tora who would die a painful death if Kushina had to catch the $&&%#%^#^$% thing one more time...) couldn't stand her because of the fox.

Like clockwork most of the animals (barring snakes for some odd reason) went nuts when she came anywhere near the store. She sighed, and decided to try the Owl Emporium two stores down.

All the owls went berserk, screeching for all they were worth...except for one lone bird. A beautiful snowy white owl calmly flew to her, and sat on her shoulder.

"How much for the owl?" she asked.

"Five galleons. Eight if you want a deluxe care set," said the man gruffly. Whatever the girl was, she was bothering his birds.

Kushina handed over eight gold coins and left with her new pet. Hopefully she could train it to be her nin animal.

She had always wanted one, but the Fox kept her from getting one. Even that brat Kakashi's dogs didn't like her, and had to gradually get used to her presence.

"What should I call you... I know! How about Mito, after my grandmother and one of the strongest females I know?"

The newly named Mito hooted and nuzzled her long crimson red hair. She knew the moment the girl stepped into her store that this was her master. She could ignore the foul magic she had stored in her body, as long as it meant that she wouldn't have to suffer the fools who tried to buy her.

Mito flew on ahead as Kushina went through the floo to Snape's office.

"Perfect timing. The old man was about to send someone to get us for dinner."

Kushina smirked. Ever since Snape showed her the House Elves, they had had Eastern style food for her. Most of the crap they served students were barely fit to be fed to the dogs with how greasy it was!

* * *

Kushina waited impatiently for the other first years to show up. Since the old man didn't want her to try and escape and find her home, he had had her stay in the castle until the school started.

Kushina didn't bother to tell the man that his worries were currently unfounded. She had received a very shocking message in her dreams from the same God of Death that had been about to devour her Minato and send her to the peaceful realms.

_Flashback_

Kushina knew something was up when she found herself in Konoha...with a few odd changes. People walked past her without seeing her.

"What the hell?"

"_Hello Uzumaki Kushina. Enjoying the view?"_

She turned to find Shinigami-sama standing there amused. She quickly bowed in respect.

"Shinigami-sama. Why am I here?"

"_I have a proposition for you...one that would prove mutually beneficial to both of us. Should you agree I will insure that you get home alive and mostly unharmed."_

"What's the mission?" she asked seriously.

Shinigami-sama smiled.

"_A few centuries ago I gave up three items of my own making to three brothers. They have been causing more trouble than they are worth, and I want them returned. If you can retrieve all three, I will send you home."_

"Am I supposed to do this alone?"

"_Not at all. You will receive help from home, though it will take until the next year to show up. If you can amuse me in the process I will even grant you the ability to send letters to your son,"_ said Shinigami-sama.

Kushina weighed her options. On one hand, this was her best chance to get home alive. On the other hand, this was the God of Death. Maybe if she did what he asked he would bring back her husband!

"You have a deal. What are these items?"

"_A cloak of invisibility, a wand that can never be defeated in magical battles, and a stone that raises the souls of the dead so that they may communicate with the living."_

Kushina stared at him.

"Seriously? Why such odd items?"

"_I granted three brothers one boon each, and that was what they chose. Only one of them had any sense. The others died shortly after."_

"I will not fail you Shinigami-sama. May I ask...is it alright if I have the power to speak to the Hokage? He'll need to know about this mission so I can return home without trouble."

Shinigami-sama smiled and waved his hand. A book appeared before her and another on the desk of the Hokage...right where his head was. The old man had fallen asleep doing paperwork again.

Kushina watched with glee as the old man's eyes widened when he read the report. She woke up the next morning with the book and started to write a report like it was a spying mission.

_Flashback end_

Kushina took a deep breath and said "Well, here goes nothing. Let's see how these sheep handle a real Fox!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Uzumaki Kushina!" McGonagall called out. The girl had snuck into the office and changed the name after crossing out the one the old man had placed. Like hell was she going to go around calling herself by a name she had never been called before!

Kushina walked up like she owned the place...and placed the hat on her head. A talking hat wasn't nearly as startling as a talking pug.

"_Well, well...the Princess of Whirlpool in our school? We've never had actual royalty in the old girl before."_

_That title died with my village. Now I am merely the hidden wife of the Fourth Hokage and the proud mother of a blond with blue eyes..._

"_The village may have been destroyed, but the people live on in you girl. Now to sort you...you are far too old to even be a first year, but the old man seems to think you are just a misplaced eleven year old."_

_Any requests for my retribution? I plan to at least break that damn nose of his and give him a pair of raccoon eyes._

"_Can you aim a few hexes at that blasted bird in his office? That uppity phoenix loves to lord over the fact that he can move freely and I'm just a hat."_

_Deal. Now where do I go?_

"_With a personality like yours? The only place you could possibly be suited for is...**GRYFFINDOR!"**_

_One crispy fried bird comin' up, Boshi-san! Enjoy the show!_

Kushina sat between a pair of twins who reminded her of the old tales of Kitsune.

"So gents...who does the pranks around here?" she asked cheerfully.

"George?"

"Yes Fred?"

"I believe we might actually have competition this year!"

"I believe you are correct brother of mine. Whatever shall we do with such an interesting firstie?"

"Prank war?" suggested Kushina.

"My dear lady, the war is on...tomorrow," said Fred.

"Do your worst, Dattebane! I can kick your asses with my eyes closed!" she crowed.

"Excuse me, but who are you? I went up and down the train and I never saw anyone with hair that red," asked a bushy haired brunette.

"Name's Uzumaki Kushina, dattebane! I'm from the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools!" she chirped. It wouldn't do the old man any good to learn of her birth village. It had been destroyed before the Third Great war.

"Datte...bane?" said a red head from down the table.

"Sorry...it's verbal tick of mine. Anyway what's it like around here?" asked Kushina.

Snape had filled her in on more than just potions. Everything from the political climate to the who's who in the magical world. Thanks to him she wouldn't look like some ignorant muggleborn.

Luckily the magical world at least was similar enough when it came to how royalty acts that she could in fact act like a pure blood princess.

Pretty soon she was acting like an odd eleven year old, and ignored the calculating gaze Dumbledore had with how she reacted to the younger red head.

* * *

Kushina awoke at five, a luxury she hadn't had in months. Ever since her son started kicking the little bugger woke her up at odd hours of the night. She had taken it as a very good sign because it meant he would be a stamina demon...though hopefully not like that spandex wearing kid Gai.

As she made her way to the showers, she noted none of the other girls were even close to being up. She snorted. Their loss.

Once she did her usual morning routine (slightly altered since she couldn't get any quality weapons to practice with) she went for a light run with all of her books on her back. The bag wasn't even charmed, let alone sealed except to hold a large load without changing the weight.

Kushina was dead set on returning to her previous ability, and since she had a lot to catch up to, she planned to use every minute available. The fact that she wouldn't have to lose the baby weight was merely a small bonus to her situation.

She surprised Snape with her early morning jog, especially when he caught sight of her book bag. She held back a laugh when he tried to put it up higher on her shoulder...and could barely lift it.

The expression on his face was priceless!

"How...?"

"Please, you think a fifty pound bag is heavy? This won't even make me break a sweat!" she grinned.

It was true. Her current record was 100 pounds...before she learned she was pregnant anyway. She had cut it back to 30 to keep from hurting the baby under Tsunade's advice.

"Why haven't you cast a featherlight charm on it?! I know you saw the spell in one of the books you bought!"

She gave him a look that he easily interpreted as someone asking a stupid question.

"Where I come from, we don't have such cheap tricks to skimp out on work. I don't see this as a burden, I see it as a way to return to my original strength. The fact that I can now brain anyone with it is only a bonus. Coincidentally, you may want to take an alternate route to the tables. I hear they've been boobytrapped with some muggle prank."

"...Give me a warning on any I may get caught up in and I'll look the other way. Especially when you are one upping those damn twins."

"Deal!"

Kushina whistled something he didn't recognize as she went to boobytrap the great hall. After being shown the Room of Requirement, she had managed to get some ninja wire and a lot of pranking supplies someone else had left there. (CoughMARAUDERSCough).

The scene that morning was hilarious. The moment the twins sat down, two large cream pies slammed into their faces. Snape had been suitably warned enough to bring a camera. And he gleefully took pictures.

The two wiped the cream off their faces and searched down the tables for a head of crimson red hair. Kushina smirked and held up a 'Victory' sign, to their utter amusement.

"Milady," said George.

"This means war," said Fred.

"Just try to get me. I'm better than you'll ever be and faster than you think."

Seeing their incredulous faces, she 'accidentally' dropped her bag. Ron, their rather thick younger brother who was eager to earn points with Kushina, went to pick it up. She hid a grin as he struggled to even pick it off the floor.

"What the hell is in this thing? Rocks?!"

Curious, Fred went to pick it up...and nearly dropped it.

"What the bloody hell?"

Kushina smirked as she easily picked up the heavy bag one handed without even having any trouble.

"Really boys, is picking up a book bag that hard for you?" she teased.

The two stared. George, thinking the girl had removed a featherweight charm, gave her a look. She handed over the bag...and he promptly fell on his ass the moment she let the weight off her arm.

He opened it to reveal...at least ten heavily bound books that had to weigh five pounds each!

Kushina easily picked the bag back up, and the brothers gave her a wary look. If someone that tiny could lift a fifty pound book bag...

Snape was having a hard time not laughing at their expressions. McGonagall and the other teachers were looking at _him_ like he had a second head.

All Snape could think of at that moment was 'Why couldn't the daughter of that damn Potter been around in my school years?'. The very thought of her showing up her father without even doing anything but making his pick up a book bag was simply too amusing not to imagine. Plus there was the fact that while she had his penchant for pranks, she was more like her mother in temper.

The difference between James and Kushina was so great that he would have had great difficulty seeing her as a clone of James.

The fact that she openly admitted to be planning retribution on the old goat for forcing her here was only a bonus. And it was something he could help her plan with great relish.

* * *

Kushina could openly say that the school was more interesting than she gave it credit for. Aside from History, which nearly put her to sleep until she placed a silencing charm on her ears and proceeded to paint some privacy seals for her bed, everything was rather fun. She even met Hagrid, the only one there who seemed to take her ability to lift fifty pounds with one hand without breaking a sweat in stride. The fact that they got along like a burning house only made her day.

Though he still had absolutely no idea why Fang kept freaking out whenever she came over. She was much nicer to the muggleborns and she tended to deck anyone she caught bullying, seventh year or no. After learning about her book bag trick...and a few cases of people nearly being sent to St. Mungo's for being brained by it...people quickly learned to keep such tendencies to themselves. Particularly Slytherins...when they learned that Snape had absolutely no sympathy or intention of siding with them when it came to her.

Something that had baffled more than just the students.

It wasn't until she got her first 'letter from home' from a five year old boy who needed help spelling that she really missed Konoha.

Naruto, her son, had been surprised beyond belief when Mito showed up with a letter to him specifically while eating ramen with the old man in the hat. (Hokage)

The messy writing (aided quite a bit from the old Hokage who saw nothing wrong with Kushina writing her son, even if she was stuck in a body barely six years older than he was at the moment) quickly painted her a heartbreaking picture of how people viewed the newest container of the Kyuubi.

The Hokage had winced more than once as Kushina angrily demanded names for those that mistreated her son. He had to remind her three times that no, she couldn't come straight home and strangle the culprits. Needless to say Shinigami-sama was laughing his ass off at her reaction. He couldn't wait to see her expression when she realized _who_ her back-up on her newest long term mission was.

* * *

Draco walked through the school with a somewhat puzzled demeanor. Mere days upon finally coming to his parents alma mater, he was shocked to learn that he wasn't the most politically connected person in the school. Hell, his own godfather wouldn't even back him up against the real powerhouse in the school!

And to his absolute disbelief that title wasn't the old goat his father complained about. It wasn't even a teacher.

It was a girl his own age who everyone thought might be the missing Potter girl, though if she was then his godfather's attitude was rather peculiar.

Kushina Uzumaki was the loudest, most interesting girl in the entire school. After the display with the book bag (which was quickly revealed to NOT to have a spell to lighten it in the least) which had three Weasly's struggling to lift it, Kushina quickly barreled through many unspoken rules.

For one thing, she actually made an effort to be _nice_ to Slytherins, despite being a Gryffindor. Her hair was redder than any Weasly, yet no one dared to make any snarky comments about it after she nearly brained the first person. She was the best at magic in the entire school, yet she could care less about it. She even got into a prank war with the Terror Twins, the undisputed prank kings of the entire school! (And to their collective shock, she could tell which was which without any trouble at all.)

She was a real puzzle. And yet she simply could care less about the magical community!

Draco shuddered. If that girl ever got into magical politics, any Death Eater still around was so doomed.

* * *

Kushina looked at the stick sceptically. They were going to fly...on these things?

"Everyone I want you to line up next to the broom and say 'UP!'" she instructed.

Kushina did as told...and to her surprise the broom nearly rocketed into her hand.

As she straddled the broom, bored out of her mind, she noted with interest that Nervous Neville (a boy who shared her love of gardening, so they got along great) looked like a spooked rabbit. That couldn't possibly a good sign while he was mounted on a stick that could take him into the air. Which was why she was the only one ready to help him when it started to lift too early.

Kushina ran up the school wall using her chakra control exercise with ease and managed to grab him before he collided with the aged stone. Neville was shaking like a leaf, but at least he was on solid ground now.

"Miss Uzumaki, what are you...?"

"Neville took off too early Sensei. It was either grab him before he crashed or let him get a broken limb at the best," she said calmly.

She noted Draco edging towards the odd ball Neville had gotten for breakfast and stopped his prank with a single look. He was cocky, not suicidal.

Madam Hooch took him to see the nurse, and she left Kushina in charge. She knew that she could trust the girl to keep the class in line.

If not out of sheer dominant personality, then fear of her infamous book bag.

(She would have been shocked if that girl didn't end up a prefect and later Head Girl.)

With practically unlimited authority over the kids, Kushina decided to have some fun. If there was _one_ thing that annoyed her in the past two months, it was that these kids didn't act like kids at all. Not even the shinobi kids she babysat on occasion acted this seriously all the time! She had asked several people, but aside from Quidditch there weren't any games.

Which was why she had the old man forward her a ball to play with.

"All right kiddies! Since Madam Hooch is away, I have something special in mind! You won't need your brooms for this, but you will have to run fast if you want to keep up!"

Everyone was afraid of what she had in mind...until she threw something round at Dean Thomas.

"You know what that is, don't you?"

Dean grinned, catching her idea pretty quick. It didn't take long for a quick game of football to start, with Kushina as referee.

Dean paused as he managed to get out of the game to take a breather.

"Where did you find a soccer ball this far out of civilization?"

"I had a friend forward it. The only decent game for teams around here is Quidditch, and even then it's not much fun. So why not bring muggle games here to play?"

"I knew you were rough around the edges, but who knew you were so much fun Kushina?" said Dean grinning.

"Bah. If I wasn't fun, then how could I possibly keep up with those twins and their sad attempts at retribution?"

Dean laughed as he rejoined the game.

Madam Hooch returned to find something that had her gaping.

"What in the world?!"

Slytherins and Gryffindors were getting along like old friends. Not a single hex was being thrown, and they were actually acting like kids!

"Yo, Hawk-sensei! Come to see my newest idea in the works?" Kushina called out with a grin.

She spotted something she didn't like and let out a sharp whistle using only her two fingers. The offending player flinched, but acknowledged his fault.

Hooch was staring hard because the boy in question was Draco Malfoy. He was actually playing _fair_?!

She had to sit down in shock.

"How...?"

"You people don't seem to realize that they are just kids. All you offer them in the form of games are Quidditch, Exploding Snap, and Wizard's Chess. Of course they're going to get bored with the same damn games!" said Kushina amused.

Hooch took that advice to heart, and discreetly asked some of her muggleborn colleagues for some games that the children could play whenever Quidditch wasn't an option.

They were surprised but they sent a large assortment of new things to try...which she would once she got a certain red haired first year to help her. Kushina had a better grasp on children than she did, and she wasn't ashamed to admit it.


	3. Chapter 3

Kushina thought things were progressing rather well. For starters, she had _finally_ gotten those under fourth year to drop all pretenses of being adult and act like the children they were. Which meant she could start on her next project.

Hermione Granger. The Raven in the Lion's Den. The girl had absolutely no friends to speak of, and Ronald Weasly was only making it worse.

Ron Weasly had tried and failed to convince her he was someone worth dating. Kushina had put a stop to it by telling him bluntly that she liked older men. Which was true, because despite her looks she was in reality 33, and she didn't want to get branded as a pedophile. Besides, she really wasn't into redheads.

Hermione gave her a suspicious look when she sat down next to her at the library.

"If you want help with your homework..." she started off annoyed.

"Hardly. If I need help I would ask a teacher to explain something. However you, on the other hand, need all the help you can get making friends."

Hermione glared at her, but Kushina thought it was just cute. Dealing with an irate demon fox tended to inoculate you to KI.

"I'm not going to lie to you. You need some work. And I don't mean with book learning. I knew a girl just like you who was smart and was the top student in her class...she ended up marrying a total prick who had a large stick shoved so far up his ass that it was a miracle it didn't come out the other end," said Kushina.

That person had been Hitomi, though from what she understood from Sarutobi, she had died bringing her second daughter into this world. She felt sorry for poor Hinata.

Sarutobi had done her a favor (actually he had been trying to distract her from coming back too early to exact vengeance on those who tried to hurt her son...) by helping her catch up on what had happened in Konoha. She had been surprised to learn Hitomi was dead and that Mikoto had another son named Sasuke was planning for a daughter.

Hermione frowned. No one had been that blunt about her...actions...but in a way it was highly refreshing. Someone actually cared enough to help her and be at least honest about what they were really doing.

"What would you recommend?" she hesitantly asked.

"Well for starters you can help me referee the other kids when it comes to muggle games. Dean is good for soccer and other sports, but I get the feeling you would know more about the rules of other games. Am I right?"

Hermione nodded. Just because she was never picked didn't mean she didn't read up on the rules in hopes of being chosen.

"Another thing you can do is go a bit easy on the other kids when it comes to studying. We're all just starting out learning this stuff, so there's really no need to harp about studying this early one. Maybe once we select the optional courses and start to really learn magic you can do it, but for now why not offer to help them proofread or find the pages they need? You don't need to be an encyclopedia, but pointing out a helpful page every once in a while goes a lot better than trying to act like a smart ass," said Kushina.

Hermione sighed.

"I know, but it's just so hard..."

Kushina patted her back sympathetically.

"Tell you what. If you can hold back on the bossiness quota for an entire month, I'll teach you something I learned back home. They work similar enough to runic arrays that you might have fun learning it. Plus they can produce unexpected results if you do it right."

Hermione perked up at that.

"What are they?"

Kushina smirked. She had the girl hook, line and sinker.

"If you can keep from bossing the other students around for an entire month, I will teach you how to create your own seals..."

(Later Kushina would realize she had created a monster, because Hermione was a veritable prodigy at anything that required the use of the mind. She later would wonder if the girl was related to the Nara...)

* * *

Her talk with Hermione had done wonders for the girl. Once she started to drop the bossy attitude, some of the girls with weaker grades started asking her for help. Hermione was so startled that she assisted them and anyone else who was struggling, like Neville. It wasn't long before the other girls started to really warm up to her.

Hermione seemed to enjoy having other kids her age to talk to. She apparently hadn't realized that it wasn't her study habits or her bookworm nature that drove people away, it was her bossy attitude.

And when she started learning seals, she really warmed up to Kushina. Between the two of them, they could figure out any homework or project related problem they came across. Kushina hadn't had this much fun since she was on an all girl genin team with Mikoto and Hitomi, with a kunoichi jounin sensei who later died after they made chunin.

But really, that woman had it coming with the way she danced around any real training simply because of who her students were! Kushina had been so angry over that fact that she had convinced (read _bullied_) her other teammates into having private training sessions with the other shinobi to make up for the lack she felt. It was that reason alone they made chunin on the first try, despite what that old crone claimed.

Kushina's next project was Neville. The boy had an overbearing grandmother to deal with at home, and his confidence was worse than Hitomi's was until Kushina had made it very clear that the Hyuuga elders could go hang themselves before she would stop being her friend.

Now that Hermione was more in her element (and promised more lessons on seals as long as she could keep from reverting back to her bossy self) Kushina went to work on Neville.

She quickly located the main issue...his family had seen him as a failure until he displayed even a hint of accidental magic. After that they were happy that he was going to the school.

Neville didn't know what to think of Kushina Uzumaki and her attention towards him. She wasn't like any of the other girls, and she would willingly hold his toad Trevor without once looking grossed out.

So when she started to get his confidence up through gardening and magical plants, he slowly started to come out of his shell. Kushina knew a lot more than most people, and once he started talking to his classmates, she offered him some very good incentive towards getting stronger.

She had a friend who had a bunch of rare plants almost never seen in Britain. If he could handle himself in a fight (she had mostly been getting him to learn how to defend himself by teaching him rudimentary taijutsu) then she would have a rare plant delivered that he could keep.

With that kind of promise (and Kushina's boisterous attitude that cheered him up even when he failed at one of her techniques) it was little wonder that the timid boy was becoming quite the powerhouse.

The only thing that came to mind as she helped them grow into themselves was that all she needed was one more and she have a full genin team.

Fate (or a bored god) seemed to answer that random thought. Because the last student she ended up helping was none other than the Slytherin Prince himself, Draco Malfoy.

* * *

Draco tried to hide his wince. The older years had taken offense that he had started to follow the lead of the Potter girl instead of putting the 'uppity half blood' in her place. To be fair, Draco had something they didn't.

He had survival instincts. He saw quite clearly before even trying to confront her that Kushina Uzumaki was a literal powerhouse who knew damn well how to use that power. He wasn't stupid enough to provoke that sort of power, and his father couldn't protect him from her when he wasn't nearby.

And somehow he got the feeling Kushina would scare him far more than his mother did whenever that time of the month came around...

He could already feel the bruise forming. Because of Kushina's dim view of bullying, the attacks happened only in the dungeons away from prying eyes. She tended to be quite vocal...and physical if she caught someone trying to hurt others just to make themselves superior. And with Snape's unofficial approval of her actions, the Slytherins had learned the hard way not to piss her off.

Right as he was about to go into the library (which had been his original destination) he bumped into someone and winced.

"Excuse me," he said lowly.

Actually playing with the other children had managed to loosen his frosty attitude enough to make friends outside his usual groups. Something that had annoyed his father until he pointed out the political ramifications of such an act. Some of the people he associated with were from prominent neutral and light families.

He didn't realize until he felt the hand on his shoulder that he had bumped into the red haired queen of the castle herself.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Her pointed jade eyes stared at him.

"I'm fine, Uzumaki," he said quietly.

"Bullshit. I can feel the dislocated shoulder you have. You have two options Draco Malfoy. Either you let me take you to Poppy or I can treat you here. Fair warning though, my treatment is painful but it's quick."

Draco had been unaware that his shoulder had dislocated. Then again that last shove had hurt more than normal.

Seeing the indecision in his eyes, he gave her a pleading look. Clearly he didn't want people to know that he had been attacked by his own house.

"Okay, but I had better place a few silencers around us. And I recommend biting into something, cause this _will_ hurt."

Draco fished out a sugar quill he had been saving for later. They tended not to break unless you applied some real force with your teeth.

Kushina positioned herself properly and popped his shoulder back into place. The sugar quill snapped, but otherwise he made no sound.

"How does that feel?"

Draco moved his shoulder. Aside from some minor pain it felt a lot better. He hadn't been aware of the pain he had been in. Kushina handed him a small vial of what he quickly identified as a pain reliever.

"So...since I sincerely doubt you will tell me who did this to you...how about I show you ways to keep it from happening again?" she said carefully.

Draco reminded her painfully of Obito, only the Uchiha were slightly more domineering. If she could help Draco now, he could possibly become stronger than his father and not have to rely on such weak threats.

She knew, because she had heard his little comebacks with her sharp hearing. The boy was so dependent on his father that it was sad.

Draco winced when he stretched the bruise.

"How can you help?" he asked. It was clear that even saying that hurt him. No one would willingly help a Malfoy, not with their family reputation.

"The same way I've been helping Granger and Longbottom. I'll figure out a skill set you _can_ learn and help you improve on it until you learn how to walk on your own two feet without worrying about your family's shadow," she said bluntly.

Draco considered her offer. On one hand, Kushina was the most blunt person he knew and could care less about political agendas. On the other, if his father learned he was taking lessons from her...it wouldn't be pretty.

"You don't have to decide now, but if you want to learn something new, come talk to me in the library with the others. Whatever you say stays between us. No one else will know, even if you start bashing on Moldy-shorts or whatever the hell his name was," said Kushina.

Draco snickered though if his father ever heard that nickname he would be livid.

A week later Draco started joining Kushina and her small group for study sessions. She quickly got him into making poisons and what little she knew of interrogation techniques...provided he never used them on people he considered friends. He just reminded her of a combination of Anko and Obito.

And like that, her small genin team of magicals was complete.

Depending on how they did once they graduated Hogwarts, she was seriously tempted to show them her home of Konoha...

* * *

Kushina was sitting with Neville and Hermione when the news of the troll spread like wildfire at the Halloween feast.

Quirrel, the inept teacher (Neville was one of the first to say she was a much better teacher, because at least they could understand her lessons) had burst into the great hall shouting about a troll.

Kushina frowned, and noted with some concern that Draco was fifteen minutes late to the feast. While he had been making great strides in his techniques (with Snape helping, once he understood _what_ Kushina was teaching him) he still had to deal with the more dense of his house.

While everyone else was freaking out, Kushina slipped out of the great hall...with Neville and Hermione not far behind her. They had started basic stealth techniques and so far not even the teachers could catch them unless they got lucky.

Kushina didn't reprimand them, but she did give them the signals to follow her lead without question. Hermione was very quick to adapt to ANBU code, with a little help. Neville at least grasped most of it, but he was still working on it.

She lead them towards the dungeons, and passed Snape almost by accident.

"What are you three...?!"

"Draco was late to the feast. Is he in the common room?" she asked bluntly.

"No. My wards would have told me if he was. However the last time I saw him was near..."

Kushina cursed.

"Hermione, Neville, you stay by my side. If I tell you to do something, you better well do it. I don't want your deaths on my hands. Snape, you keep whatever the hell Quirrel is really after safe while we retrieve Draco," she said firmly.

And with that, the two groups dispersed to do damage control.

Kushina and her group arrived in time to find Draco pinned inside a room with the troll trying in vain to get him. Out of the three, Draco was the weakest. Neville had at least built up some muscle by working in the green houses during his spar time picking up dragon dung bags for Sprout. Hermione took to jogging fairly well.

"Draco, duck!" she shouted. Hermione and Neville got ready to sprint towards him at her signal.

Draco didn't question her command, and ducked out of the way...of a large fireball that immediately got the attention of the troll. Kushina started to belt out elemental jutsu, keeping the troll's attention solely on her. Eventually she got above it and delivered a nasty ax-kick to the head, dropping into unconsciousness.

"You alright Draco?" asked Kushina.

Draco, like the other two, stared at the troll in absolute shock. Kushina had taken it out like it was nothing!

Kushina snapped her fingers in his face, bringing him back to the world of the living.

"Draco! Are you alright?" she asked again.

"I...I ran into here the moment the smell hit me. It burst into the area a few minutes after," he stammered.

Kushina beamed at him.

"Good. You did the right thing. While you have improved since you started, there's no way in hell you would have been able to take out that thing without getting killed in the process."

She said that with a genuine smile as she gently ruffled his well kept hair, causing him to squawk in protest.

"Um...Kushina? How the bloody hell did you do that?"

"I'll tell you later. First we have to find Snape and tell him where to find this stupid thing... If I get my hands on the idiot who let a thing like this loose in a school full of children, expulsion and the Ministry will be the _least_ of their problems," she growled.

Snape took the report of the troll's current state with a grain of salt...after insuring Draco didn't get injured. In any case the boy had to stay in the hospital wing overnight just to be sure.

Afterwords Kushina met with her team in a rather secluded spot near the lake and laced it with so many silence and privacy seals that no one could possibly hear what she was about to tell them.

* * *

"First off, let me say how proud I am of you three. You behaved exactly as you should in that situation. Second, I will understand if you find what I am about to tell you hard to believe."

She looked at them all in the eye, and saw the trust they had in her as she said "My name is Kushina Uzumaki...and I am jounin level Kunoichi of the Village Hidden in the Leaf."

"What is a kunoichi?" asked Neville, not recognizing the term.

"Kunoichi... is the term used for female Ninja."


	4. Chapter 4

Her genin team had all sorts of questions, and she answered them as honestly as she could. Finding out the girl they considered their best friend was in fact 33 years old stuck in a body three times younger than she actually was...well they were rather shocked.

In what seemed like no time at all, they settled back into a familiar pattern, only this time there was a larger measure of trust. Draco, after learning his new friends wouldn't abandon him just to save their own skins, started to open up more about the abuse he had been dealing with in Slytherin. A few words from Kushina and Snape handing her the password before it could be changed quickly got the older snakes off his back.

They had fallen into a pattern that only they knew about, though the other teachers commented on it more than once.

Kushina was the leader, Neville the Healer, Hermione the Strategist and Draco the Interrogator. They made up a solid genin team under Kushina's lead. If they had been in Konoha she had little doubt the three would make a very formidable genin team.

As it was, the three sometimes helped to alleviate her homesickness.

* * *

Kushina honestly didn't see the point of Quidditch, aside from the fact that until recently it was the only sport in the school.

She quickly learned to dislike the sport the moment the players started coming worryingly close to the stand where she was at.

When they started coming close enough to crash, she did something people would talk about for years to come.

She jumped off the stand...and just walked to the ground without once falling from the vertical surface she was on. People would later assume she had a strange mastery of the sticking charm, but the sight still stuck in people's heads.

As a side benefit, the players stopped bombarding the stand as whatever caused them to loose control stopped the moment she left the area.

Needless to say, she started paying more attention to the sport whenever she was forced to go to one.

Ever so slowly, the first semester ended. And with it came a season that had Kushina planning something devious!

* * *

At least once she learned of this winter solstice holiday everyone was so excited about. Hermione had to leave to meet her parents but Neville and Draco decided to stay during the season to keep her company. Kushina appreciated the sentiment, and made sure they had full use of Mito so they could at least give their families their sentiments during the holiday.

But not before she sent Naruto a special treat that any five year old would appreciate. At least once a week her son would send her letters to what he assumed was a really nice pen pal. As a result his writing had gotten a lot better, and according to the Hokage the boy was already ahead of his classmates when it came to reading.

Which was why she sent him a scroll that including beginning seals...such as explosive tags. She even included a note telling him how to make home made paint tags. The six year old took her advice to heart, and quickly started his path to being a public menace...much to the Hokage's horror. He actually _cried_ when he realized his paperwork was going to multiply like rabbits...or an Aburame hive.

Kushina had laughed...(and by laugh I mean cackle like Anko) as she cheerfully told him he earned that by not giving her a list of names.

Needless to say he took the hint and started keeping a list of names that she would later take her revenge upon.

Draco stared at his pile with disinterest. Since the Gryffindor tower was mostly empty (barring the Weaslys and Neville) he had opted to spend the night there instead of his own dorm. Once Kushina reigned in the loudmouthed Ron, he actually enjoyed it there.

Ron seemed to take a long while to figure out that Kushina was far too much like his mother...only she wasn't willing to overlook serious flaws like Molly.

Like say his clear personal hygiene issues that Neville and some of his dorm mates complained of regularly to her?

Since none of the prefects were willing to do something about it (Percy sure as hell wasn't any help, and the female prefect was almost never seen, since she was more interested in reigning in the twins...) the students often went to Kushina instead, since she seemed to know what to do most of the time.

McGonagall was rather surprised by this arrangement, but allowed it with little argument. With Kushina around, the teachers didn't complain about the Gryffindors being so reckless. Even the point deductions by Snape had dropped, to the teacher's collective shock. About the only person unhappy about the changes she had been making...was the Headmaster himself.

* * *

Dumbledore watched the girl he had hoped to control train the three with some dismay. She was an enigma that he would have loved to crack. First she had ruined his plans by befriending the twins and not the younger brother Ronald. Though to be fair, once he heard of some glaring issues it quickly became clear _why_ she had no interest in him. The boy was about as bright as Crabbe or Goyle, either generation. And he was as prejudiced as a Death Eater.

The girl had quickly and efficiently gathered children who could become major players in the coming war. A girl with an uncommon IQ and massive magical core, despite being muggleborn. A boy with uncertain as of yet alliances with a strong background in politics and a father who was once on the inside of the opposition. And a herbology prodigy with a possible knack for healing on the side.

And then there was Kushina, who had derailed his plans so easily. And it had all started with the sorting. He had expected the name Kaori Potter to show up...but it hadn't. Instead her adopted name was called, and no one realized she was the missing Potter heir.

They suspected, but they had no solid proof.

Then she starts a prank war with the most dangerous pair of twins the school had seen since the Marauder's era. She gets their attention in a way that wouldn't be questioned and then gets them exclusively on her side by proving her superiority in pranks. It was a calculated move and it was pulled flawlessly.

Now she was training the three children to be fighters...and none of them would follow his rule. He could tell that much at a glance. They relied on Kushina Uzumaki far more heavily than they did the teachers, and the girl easily picked up techniques that the three could and did excel in.

Which meant the next move was on him. He could only hope his next gambit was the correct one, because he was taking a major risk giving her the cloak.

* * *

The moment Kushina touched the cloak, she knew that she had found one of the items Shinigami-sama wanted her to retrieve.

That suspicion was confirmed when that night, the god of death visited her again.

"_I see you found the cloak. I can feel the wand nearby, though it is difficult to find it,"_ he said.

"I have a very good idea where that stupid thing is. And at this time, I don't feel annoyed at being dragged halfway across the world."

Shinigami-sama grinned at her.

"_So your impromptu genin team meets your approval? Good. I had suspected your presence at this critical time would do some good and lessen the load of souls from this area...but I didn't expect you to turn three of the major players into your own personal genin team."_

"It's that old goats fault for dragging me here almost two hours after giving birth. My mothering instincts are still on overdrive, so naturally I have to help these kids."

"_Since you are ahead of schedule, I will tell you something important about your husband's former genin team. Out of the three, only Kakashi remains in Konoha. The only other survivor is currently near Mist."_

"Why would Rin be in Mist?!"

"_I never said it was Rin. She died by Kakashi's hand nearly a year after the death of her sensei. He had no choice but to take her out when in a fit of despair she tried to kill your son."_

Her eyes widened.

"Obito is alive?" she said in shock.

"_In a sense. The one who set the Kyuubi free has found a new host in his body, so he still lives...but he is merely a prisoner."_

Kushina absorbed that information. She would cross that bridge when she came to it.

"So, what now?"

"_Now you train those three to at least genin level. Their chakra coils can still be unlocked, but bringing them up to chunin level will take some hard work. In the meantime, I believe I offered you a letter from home?"_

Kushina looked excited by that.

"_Consider this my present to you on this winter solstice."_

* * *

Kushina went to sleep the next night and found herself in a sewer. She could feel the Kyuubi nearby, so that lead to one obvious conclusion.

She was in her son's mind.

"Huh? Where am I?" asked a tiny child with blond hair.

"Naruto?" she said with hope.

"Who the heck are you?!"

"My name is Kushina...your pen pal!"

The tiny six year old took one look at her (and to her amusement and relief she was in her real body not the child version) and tackled her in a hug.

Since she didn't want him to see the Kyuubi just yet, she brought him to her mind to make him feel better. It was a field of flowers, not unlike where Minato proposed to her.

Soon Naruto had relaxed all his outside barriers, and he didn't seem to notice that Kushina was beyond pissed. She kept it in check though, so her son wouldn't know that it wasn't aimed at him.

Though her next letter to the Hokage would make the man wince and hope like hell that the back up the god of death mentioned was Minato.

At least then he could shove all the paperwork that was likely to occur once Kushina was freed to inflict her wrath on the people who harmed her son on him!

On the plus side though, now the child had a face to go with the letters from her, and after the way the villagers tended to treat him, he found the change very refreshing. Kushina didn't expect to stay in the magical world past his thirteenth birthday, something the Shinigami agreed was reasonable enough.

Between her and the back up he had already set up, he had little doubt that she would stay that long just to insure her 'genin' team survived the war to come.

* * *

Kushina frowned. This was the third time she detected chakra on the third corridor. Snape had told her what the old man hid there, mostly because she had enough common sense to ask before trying to sneak in.

So when she found out that Quirrel was the culprit behind the troll, she saw red. The idiot didn't even last five minutes behind an enraged demon container who didn't have qualms about killing those who harm children.

The specter that tried to go through her was repelled violently by the Yin half of the Kyuubi, and Kushina managed to make it back to her bed and fall asleep. But not before she stole whatever the hell Dumbledore placed inside that damn mirror. She earned it for dealing with the traitor dammit!

Kushina cheerfully sent the letter to Flamel once Draco identified what the stone actually was. And got a reply back thanking her for it's safe return. Apparently Dumbledore neglected to mention that he was using it as bait for a traitor.

He apparently liked her blunt manner, and soon she had another pen pal to talk to. At least he was sympathetic towards her problem of being stuck in a body three times younger than she actually _was_.

With the mysterious death of Quirrel the students floundered under the directionless class.

So Snape stepped up on the condition Poppy took over his third year and younger potions. The arrangement worked well enough that Poppy managed to restock over half her potions supply under the guise of lessons.

Kushina took that chance to convince Neville to ask Poppy for lessons on beginning healing for next year. She had an idea of getting a hold of some medical ninjutsu, which would help him once he managed to unlock his chakra coils.

After she mentioned the three she had inadvertently made into a magical genin team, the Hokage was more than happy to send her scrolls...as long as it kept her from making his paperwork worse by giving her son prank ideas...

The things he did to keep her from killing him via paperwork.

* * *

It was the end of the school year, and Kushina was NOT happy. For starters the old man wanted her to live with her maternal aunt and her family. Somehow she knew that she would have to put the fear of Shinigami-sama into them before the next year started.

Speaking of the god of death, he had promised her that her back up would be showing up during her second year along with a pale blond girl that apparently lived across the way from the Weasly clan.

So Kushina went with the large walrus who had come to pick her up. He seemed as excited to see her as she was to see him.

The moment she stepped foot into the house, she knew she had come to her own private hell. Every house on the street, picture perfect...like they had come from a cookie cutter mold. The only thing that made them different were the flowers and those smelly cars.

Her 'cousin' looked like a damn Akimichi, only less intelligent. The boy had every sign of a bully, and if he tried to take a swing at her she wouldn't guarantee he'd live to see the morning. And her aunt...dear lord the woman was a bloody horse! And she reminded her of that bitch Haruno, the one with the voice like nails.

For a woman who could speak that loud, she sure as hell couldn't sing worth a damn. Why, oh _why _did that bint love Karaoke?!

Petunia glared at her neice, which she had been perfectly happy never to meet despite the old goat's attempts at dumping her on her doorstep. The second their eyes met, you could practically _feel_ the sparks coming off her.

"Well, what now? I can assume you want me to be here as much as I _want_ to be here," said Kushina sourly.

Petunia scowled at the girl, but before she could really piss off the redhead, something fell out of her pocket.

"What is that?" she demanded.

"This? This is a list of things I intend to do to the idiot who thought it was a good idea dumping me here for an entire summer, despite the fact that my friends were more than happy to ask their parents if I could stay with them," she said clearly.

She handed it over to Petunia, and despite her hatred of all things magical, she looked. Five seconds later a cruel smile spread across her face.

"I think we'll get along _juuuust_ fine, Kushina," she smirked.


	5. Chapter 5

Kushina rather enjoyed her time at Privet Drive, once she made it clear she held the same hatred for certain old goats. Petunia was quite the vindictive woman, once she made it clear that she would do everything in her power to make Dumbledore's life hell.

And after a rather interesting demonstration of her strength (involving her lifting Vernon's car with one hand long enough to change a tire she had noticed was about to go flat, once told how) Dudley stayed far, far away from her. Petunia certainly didn't mind sharing recipes and gardening stories with the girl.

Vernon, on the other hand, slowly grew to like the girl a lot more once he heard her comment at how lazy wizards were. The sad fact was that out of the three she turned into her magical genin team, only Hermione was able to keep up with her after a week of training. Neville had to take a month to get to that level!

Her little display of actual strength (reinforced with the fact that she easily lifted the heavy TV with her wand poking out of her bag) had impressed him a lot. Clearly she wasn't afraid of real work, like the others he had heard about.

And much to Kushina's surprise, the summer rolled away faster than she would have thought. Petunia, while not happy to have been forced to deal with her niece every summer, at least left her alone most of the time. Clearly their common enemy had created a truce of sorts, especially when Kushina revealed that she didn't think much of magic.

Everything was great...up until the point that the Terror Twins showed up with their father's car in the middle of the night.

* * *

"ARE YOU TWO INSANE?!" she roared.

Vernon had been very unhappy by their appearance, especially when he saw the car.

Kushina had half a mind to whack the two of them upside the head for such an idiotic stunt.

Instead she chose to make the best of a bad situation and spend a few nights with the Weasly clan. They at least knew where the Alley was, and with a short conversation to Petunia, both agreed it would be fine. At least this way she limited their exposure to magicals, which was something her aunt could appreciate.

And with that, her summer started to draw to a close.

"So...what the bloody hell convinced you to do such a dangerous stunt?" she asked sweetly, which both twins instinctively knew was Kushina at her worst.

"You weren't answering out letter," Fred mumbled.

"What letters?"

"We sent you tons of invites to stay at our house, but we never got a reply back. Even Ginny sent one," said George.

"The only people from the magical world I have been in contact with all summer were Draco, Hermione and Neville. No one else mailed me," she explained.

"How come you got their letters and not ours?" asked Fred.

"Who said anything about letters? I bought a bunch of books interconnected to each other and gave them one at Christmas so they could talk to me at any time! Hell, I even gave you two dingbats a set!"

The two shared a look.

"We thought they were regular journals..." they admitted.

"Well now it's your own damn fault for not figuring it out sooner. At least now you'll try to _use_ that empty space between your heads!" she said giving them a playful whack on the noggin.

George rubbed the back of his head, and then gave her an odd look.

"Why is it that when you remind us of Mum, we still tend to listen to you more?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's been bugging me too!" said Fred.

"Maybe because I actually care enough to listen for your side of the story before I bring you back down to earth?"

The twins shared a grin.

"That could be it!" they said in synch. Plus it didn't hurt that Kushina could tell them apart better than their own mother did.

"So how far to your house?"

"About fifteen minutes, ten if we push it."

"...Mind if I let Mito out?"

"Go for it."

Her precious nin owl (Kushina could actually call her that, because Mito was too damn smart to be called a normal owl) flew along silently, enjoying the freedom. Kushina hated putting her in the cage.

* * *

The second they landed on the grass, Kushina could feel the 'Motherly Intent' in the air. Molly was definitely aware the twins had borrowed the car.

"Guys, better prepare for a tongue lashing," she warned them before they got out.

"Why?"

"Your mother is wide awake and from what I can tell is aware you stole the car," she told them.

They flinched, but at least they had been warned ahead of time.

Sure enough, Molly descended on them like Mito on a fat juicy rat. She was ticked, and it didn't help that Kushina was smirking at them with an I-told-you-so expression.

When Molly finally took a break from her rant, Kushina quickly jumped in.

"That was the same reaction I had, Mrs. Weasly. I was sure to give them a good long rant on how dangerous it was flying a bloody car, particularly since the moonlight wasn't even that good!" she said quickly.

"You can call me Molly dear...now as for you two, you will be degnoming the garden!"

"But Mum!"

"Don't you 'but Mum' me! It's your own fault for driving all night!"

"Would you mind terribly if I help?"

"I'm afraid it's dreadfully boring dear. Are you sure you don't want some breakfast?"

"I'm fine, Mrs. Weasly. Besides I've never seen a gnome before."

The twins quickly jumped on the chance, and soon Kushina had a good look at her first gnome.

After it tried to bite her, she quickly flared her KI and got the gnomes to run for it as fast as their stubby legs would allow. The twins shared a look.

"Just like Micheal..."

"Who's Micheal?"

"Micheal Lovegood. Nice bloke, but he really doesn't like Ginny or Ron after he heard how they idolize you," said Fred.

"Hates fan girls/boys I take it?"

"He tends to burn Lockhart books on sight," said George.

"Sounds like my kind of guy!" grinned Kushina.

She had picked one up out of curiousity, but five pages in she threw it up in the air and incinerated it. It wasn't a book about Dark Arts, it was a glorified travel log! One that was written more poorly than Jiraiya's _Icha Icha_ series!

"You might get along with him great. He likes to do those weird exercises every morning too," said Fred.

Kushina paused. Weird exercises? Someone who possibly knew Taijutsu?

"By any chance does he have a pale blond sister?"

"Luna? Yeah. She's a bit odd, but she's a nice girl. For some reason he has a brighter yellow hair coloring than his Mum or dad."

Kushina could feel the pit in her stomach drop. Bright yellow hair...it couldn't be!

"He might show up with Luna to shop for school supplies. They start this year," continued George.

"I heard Xeno gave him permission to go alone, so long he kept an eye on Luna..." said Fred.

"When do they come over?"

"Knowing Mike, he'll be here around ten. He hates waking up early!"

"Yeah, remember that time he spent the night and when we woke him up at dawn? The look on his face was priceless!"

"Though I still don't know where he got all those weird toads... Man's obsessed I tell ya!"

"Weird toads?"

"Yeah, he brought out this orange one wearing a vest that talked...nearly gave Mum a heart attack!"

Kushina felt a spark of hope in her chest. Blond hair, knew taijutsu and could bring out toads from nowhere. Could it be possible that her back up was...?

* * *

Mike stared off towards the Weasly clan. He had felt that spike of controlled KI from here, and it had felt disturbingly familiar. But the odds of Kushina being here are near impossible...she had vanished without warning after the Fox impaled her with the claw, and even he didn't know where she went.

Though waking up from that battle as a child not even a year old had been a surprise.

He decided to adopt a wait and see approach, and was very shocked to learn that he was half way across the world, a few years before the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Because of his physical limitations, he couldn't go back to his beloved village and set things right.

Now he was about to go to Hogwarts for the first time with his little sister Luna.

Mike hid a smile. Luna was someone he rather enjoyed talking to. Most people didn't take her seriously because of her odd Seer's quirks, but after years of shinobi training he saw past it.

It was because of that training that his 'mother' had been spared after the accident. Micheal had pushed Luna out of the way as he performed what little medical jutsu he knew of courtesy of Tsunade. While he would never be a good battlefield medic, he could at least keep her alive until the doctors showed up.

Luna followed his order to call St. Mungo's without question. By the time they arrived Selene had stabilized enough to be moved, and she spent a week in recovery.

After that, no one questioned his odd ways again. Luna started to join him in the mornings, and he was glad of the company. She was easily chunin level now, since Minato tended to focus on her training before his own.

Mike took a shower, and prepared to take Luna over to the Weasly family home. Ginny had at first made him heartbroken, until he realized she was a bloody fangirl. After that, he had no issues ignoring her. Because she no longer reminded him of a certain red haired kunoichi that took shit from no one.

He had no idea of the reception that would be awaiting him at the Burrow...

* * *

Kushina was eager to meet Luna, who by all accounts sounded like someone she would gladly talk to. Because of the Kyuubi's influence, Kushina often saw past certain veils. Though she did try to ignore them unless she was absolutely bored out of her mind...and alone.

They heard a knock at the door, and Molly went to see who it was.

"Ah, Micheal! I am so glad your father agreed to allow you and Luna to join us. How is Selene?"

"She's fine Mrs. Weasly. She said that recipe you lent her is absolutely genius, and wants to buys a few more barrels of your apples," said a boy's voice.

Kushina's heart leaped into her throat. She would recognized that voice anywhere. All those years at the Academy together had finally paid off.

Suddenly she had an evil idea...and looked at the twins. They seemed to get the idea she was in the mood for some mischief, because they grinned. She quickly outlined a plan for them, and they couldn't stop smiling.

She snuck up behind the blonds, and did her best imitation of Gamabunta's singing one of his raunchy songs he heard from Jiraiya. Surprisingly he wasn't half bad...for a toad.

The look on the boy's face was priceless, and Kushina's grin was only offset by the sheer joy on his face.

Micheal Lovegood...was really Minato Namikaze.

He quickly schooled his impression and grinned.

"Who taught you to sing, a toad?"

"Hmmm... I would say it was that pervert you hang out with so much! I mean, really what sort of Sage is he? Peeping on girls in the hot springs is hardly the act of someone so strong!" she retorted, mock thinking.

His eyes alight with pleasure, as that confirmed that it was really Kushina.

Molly didn't know what was going on, but she quickly assumed the two had met before.

* * *

Minato and Kushina quickly made shadow clones for themselves...and Luna. Once Luna figured out who Kushina was, she cheerfully attached herself to the only other person who would actually listen to her.

"So...you got stuck here too?"

"Apparently the God of Death has a real sense of humor. He told me that I was going to get back up for the mission he gave me, but he neglected to mention it was you," she said.

"All I remember is waking up an infant with my new sister Luna. So what is this school like?"

"A civilian run playground where chakra is replaced by magic and the kids have real trouble acting like actual kids. Speaking of which, I seem to have acquired a genin team."

Minato stared at her in shock.

"How the hell do you acquire a genin team?!"

"Motherly instincts combined with actually listening. I have a plant prodigy, a girl who could be related to a Nara with how smart she is, and a boy who is a combination of Anko and Obito. Speaking of which, I have news about your students," she said. It was her tone that spoke volumes.

"How bad?"

"Kakashi is the only one left in Konoha...and Obito, from what Shinigami-sama told me, has been possessed by that same bastard who nearly killed us both with the Fox."

"And Rin?" he asked.

"Dead. I'll spare you the details... Oh _hell_ no! Not him!"

Minato followed her line of sight and grimaced as well.

Gilderoy Lockhart was signing books at the bookstore.

"Shall we leave the clones to deal with _that_ and hit Knockturn?" he asked.

"Let's make sure my genins aren't in that throng first," she said.

Minato felt his clone dispel, and knew that he would have to make another before Mrs. Weasly caught wind of it. He loved shadow clones...they made the evil demons that all Kage feared go away.

Paperwork.

* * *

Kushina took one look at the crowd and decided a little test wouldn't hurt. So she flared her KI in a specific pattern, and felt the response almost immediately.

Hermione and Draco were inside, but Neville was heading up their way.

"Yo, Nev! Over here!" she yelled.

Neville perked up, and ran towards her. His grandmother, who would normally show disapproval at such things, noted with pleasure that he wasn't even winded from the rather quick sprint. Something that wouldn't have been true a year ago.

"So...you are the infamous Kaori Potter. My name is Augusta Longbottom."

"Please, call me Kushina Ma'am. I haven't gone by Potter since I was raised by my family. While I respect my birth parents and their memories, I am my own person," she said formally.

Augusta approved of the girl. She was strong, polite and knew how to react in formal situations.

"I may assume you plan to continue your efforts to train my grandson?"

"He's possibly one of the best healers in training I have ever met. No matter what test I put before him, he always does his very best to surpass my expectations. The only real issue I see with his development is that his wand doesn't appear to be bonding with his magic properly," she said politely.

"It was his fathers...though you may have a point. Once you retrieve your school books, we shall get you a proper wand," said Augusta.

"If I may recommend, perhaps you should go to the one in Knockturn? Pre-made wands are good in general, but one made specifically for him would go better. I know for a fact the ones in Ollivanders didn't really sit well with me."

Augusta shot her a surprised look, but agreed to at least check the shop out first. The girl was surprisingly insightful.

With that, Kushina and her group took the plunge into the horde of rabid fan girls...


	6. Chapter 6

Mere seconds upon entering the horde, she was already regretting it. Hermione quickly attached herself to the small group, who were subtly staying in sight of the Weasly brood after their clones managed to ditch them under the guise of spotting Hermione.

Molly still didn't understand that the three she had been escorting with her children outside of Gringotts were actually clones. And after Minato started to ditch the rant sessions he was stuck in whenever he got caught with the twins, he didn't _want _her to know about that particular trick.

The moment Lockhart spotted her distinctive hair color, he made a beeline to Kushina. Minato carefully kept Hermione and Luna away from the rather amusing show that was about to occur.

The moment his hand touched her shoulder in an attempt to use her fame to draw more attention to himself, Kushina did exactly what Minato knew what she would do.

She did a basic over the shoulder throw and sent Lockhart flying into the nearby shelf filled with his books.

"I don't let _fan boys_ near me, you creep!" she snarled.

She recognized the gleam in his eyes. And noted with some concern another type of gleam when he looked at Minato. The kind that reminded her very strongly of a certain Sannin...the one everyone wouldn't mind kicking out of places where small children were at frequently.

"Well, it seems Ms. Potter isn't in need of any extra lessons!" he said jovially. Her eyes narrowed.

Minato bit back a laugh as he realized an odd quirk of hers was about to surface if the man made any more idiotic comments.

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind helping me this year... That's right folks! I, Gilderoy Lockhart, am going to Hogwarts this year as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!"

"_OH HELL NO!"_ said Kushina in absolute horror.

"And as a added bonus, I am providing free books to Ms. Potter and her little friends~!"

An evil gleam came to her eyes.

"_All_ of my little friends?" she asked.

"Of course!"

Her smirk would have made people run far, far away if she were home...it was highly reminiscent of Anko when she was about to do something very painful and humiliating. And not get reprimanded for it later.

"In that case..._Everyone, front and center!"_

With that, the Weasly brood, Draco, Neville, Hermione, and everyone who was friends with her personally and happened to be in the area showed up. Kushina took great pleasure in naming each of them with painful slowness, and the man's grin diminished with each name.

There were _ten_ students there, and he had just offered to buy all of their Defense books for the year. Kushina had outsmarted him and cost him nearly a thousand galleons easily, with how much he charged for the full set.

Once Draco was out of eyesight, he silently applauded the stunt.

"That third rate hack had it coming," he smirked.

"Naturally! In any case, warn the boys of your dorms to avoid private lessons with him. I didn't like that other gleam in his eye," she warned.

"Please for the love of Hecate say that you are increasing our training," asked Draco pleadingly.

"I wouldn't trust him with training a dog, let alone children just now starting out with magic," she said firmly.

"Well, well, that must have been quite a windfall for you..._Arthur_," said Lucius.

Kushina looked past Draco and noticed the other blond.

"Father?" she asked.

Draco nodded miserably. Lucius had become increasingly vicious when he learned about the training Kushina was having him do. The fact that his potions skills were top notch as a result, even without Snape's blatant favoritism didn't even come into it. Lucius still seemed to think that Kushina was like her parents.

Oh how such perceptions would shatter like glass when she was through with this two faced bastard.

Kushina cheerfully walked up to the two family heads acting rather pleased with her stunt.

"The Spawn of Potter," Lucius spat. He had beaten Draco black and blue for acknowledging her as his superior.

"Is there a problem boys?" she asked sweetly. The twins, Minato and Neville all winced. Kushina was going to do something unpleasant.

"Nothing the brat of a mudblood whore can handle," he sneered.

And with that, her patience went from 10 to 0. The amount of KI she leveled at him made Lucius dropped to the ground and gasp for air. A few people noted that for some reason her long crimson red hair rose in the air and split into nine segments, each practically radiating fury.

"Care to repeat that, or will I have to get...physical? I assure you, Mr. _Malfoy_ that if you continue to piss me off, there will be nothing that will save you from my wrath," she said, her tone flat.

No amount of wards would protect this piece of trash if he said one more word about her parents. She may not have known them, but from what she heard about their actions, they had died one of the four honorable deaths. (Honorable by Shinobi standards anyway. Anyone who lost their life protecting their child despite the overwhelming odds was worthy of her respect.)

Lucius didn't realize until he left that bookstore, but being subjected to such absolute intent to kill had caused him to lose control of his bowels. The girl he had insulted so openly had just sent enough rage and fury that he knew she was a bigger threat than Dumbledore _ever_ was. At least he would try to talk things out. This girl, who was barely 12, had no such reservations.

And that didn't take into account that strange black shadow behind her...the one that made her nine strands of hair look like tails of a malevolent demon.

Lucius was so eager to leave that he didn't realize he had left his son behind by accident. Draco decided to avoid his father until he cooled off...and had taken a shower.

"What the ruddy 'ell happened here?" asked Hagrid gruffly. He had gone to the bookstore when he saw Arthur and Lucius about to go at it in public. He didn't see the way Kushina had stopped it early.

Though his nose did crinkle at the smell Lucius left behind.

"Just making sure a certain fool knew who was the top dog around here," said Kushina, her mood restored.

"Kushina...remind me never to piss you off," said Draco.

"Oh, trust me Draco, you would have to do a lot to piss me off. Your father really should have kept his tongue still about my mother," she said.

"He didn't..." said Hagrid.

"He called her a mudblood whore. Anyone who would insult a woman that died protecting her child deserves what I just did to him," said Kushina with a growl.

"What was with the hair?" asked Ron.

"Huh?"

"Your hair did the nine tailed thing again," said Minato. To be honest he felt Lucius had earned that sort of KI for the remark.

* * *

"So Luna, what sort of pet do you want?" asked Minato. Kushina stayed outside, after mentioning the way they reacted last time.

Luna looked at her older twin brother. Micheal...no, Minato as he preferred to be called, was honestly the best thing she had going. If he hadn't been born alongside her...and awakened shortly after, then her mother would be dead and she would have been all alone.

She looked past the normal animals, and her eyes went straight to the unusual. Her eyes fell on an odd cat creature with split tails. Minato looked at her choice and grinned.

"You want that one sis?"

She nodded, the animal settling into her arms comfortably. Minato took her to the register and paid for it. His present was the girl waiting for them outside. Luna could tell through the powers she inherited from her father that the two were soul mates that had been split apart and recently brought together again.

She actually felt happy for him, because he used to look so lost whenever he saw a girl with bright red hair. She liked Ginny to a point, but that girl wasn't what he needed.

"So what are you going to name your new kitsune?" he asked.

"Is that what he is?" she said.

"Yup. Looks like he's fairly powerful, because he's starting to develop his second tail," said Minato.

"I think I'll call him...Hokage," she said.

Minato stopped, looked at his sister and laughed.

"You're going to name your new fox Fire Shadow?" he asked with a grin.

"That is your real title isn't it? He reminds me of you, and Minato just doesn't fit right," she said her eyes wide.

"Welcome to the family them...Hokage," he said.

"Speaking of Hokages, how do you think the old geezer will react if he knew you were alive?" said Kushina smirking.

"How did he react to you?"

"It took him a week of random personal questions to believe it was me on the other end. You should have seen his face when Shinigami-sama allowed me a letter home in ghost form!" she cackled.

Minato stopped cold and looked at her in shock.

"You've...been speaking to Shinigami-sama?" he said in disbelief.

She nodded.

"He said that if we manage to retrieve and return three items he let loose in this side of the world he'll give us a free ticket home. Knowing him he wouldn't care if we brought a few others with us. From what I've been able to find, these three items have cause a _lot_ of trouble for the magicals over the centuries," said Kushina.

Luna looked at her with her head tilted.

"Are you referring to the three Deathly Hallows?"

"From what I've read, that is their title. Why?"

"Father has always been fascinated by that legend. Perhaps he can help you?" she suggested.

Kushina's face lit right up.

"I'll talk to him tomorrow. Thank you Luna-chan!" said Kushina.

Luna blinked. She had only recommended her father because she knew of his fascination. No one had ever thanked her with any sincerity before aside from her brother. It seems like Minato, Kushina was a very kind hearted person who didn't tease people just to be mean.

Kushina gave the girl a light hug and Luna basked in the warmth.

Draco ended up spending the night with his second cousins (the Lovegoods) just to avoid the aftermath of his father's very public humiliation.

Dobby at least had started to act a little better around him since Kushina had lit into him for treating house elves like little more than slaves. After that rather pointed rant, Draco stopped disregarding them and started treating them with something akin to respect.

After her rather interesting comment about how one might one day snap and poison his food at the cost of it's own life, Draco started to pay attention to them.

At the very least he actually _called_ the house elves by their name with something other than a sneer. Kushina probably didn't care how she was breaking the Malfoy mold, but it was noticeable if you knew how to look.

Because of that, whenever he asked Dobby to do something, the elf tended not to screw it up. So it was with great relief that he made it to the train with his cousins instead of his father.

* * *

Kushina would have frowned. The barrier had been very sluggish going in, and she didn't think that was normal. Then again she hadn't taken the train last time, so she didn't know.

Draco looked puzzled. The barrier felt like mud when last time it felt like water or wind.

"That was odd."

"You felt it too?"

"Like mud instead of the water it was supposed to be," said Draco.

Kushina snapped her fingers.

"Knew I was forgetting something. Remember those chakra exercises where I showed you how to walk on walls?"

"You mean the one you showed us while you lay a trap for the old goat? What of it?"

Draco was proud to say he had been making headway during his grounding. Lucius, after he had beaten his son, had locked him in his room all bloody summer. Thanks to the elves and his mother, he was able to at least get his homework done and had three regular meals.

Being stuck in his room all summer had given him all the time in the world to work on that tree climbing exercise she had showed them. He could now walk on the ceiling...while reading a book at the same time.

"How far along are you with that?"

"I can stay on the ceiling while reading," he said.

"I'll show you the next stage later. Anyway, I'll see if we can't move onto elemental affinities this month. I have the most fun plan for Defense classes this year."

"Oh?"

"We practice chakra control while he blathers on. Maybe even beginning jutsu..."

Draco and Kushina had been joined by Neville, Luna, Minato and Hermione. The compartment was now comfortably full.

"So how far along at you three?" he asked.

Hermione and Neville shot him a look, but Kushina answered him with ease.

"They have unlocked their coils. Next month I might start elemental affinities while I show them the beginner jutsu."

"Mind if we join you? Luna has mastered the basics but we haven't been able to cover the elements without the papers," said Minato.

"Sure. Every morning an hour before breakfast."

"Um, Kushina?" asked Hermione.

"Hermione, remember when I mentioned I would have back up for my special mission this year? Meet Minato Namikaze, or as the magical community knows of him, Micheal Lovegood. He outranks me in terms of certain skills, and has a better grasp of medical jutsu than I do."

Neville perked up at that.

"I also have a seal that allows me to move at very fast speeds, though I don't have any on me. This place doesn't have any real weaponry outside the goblin clans..."

Kushina suddenly remembered something, and started rummaging through her bag. Crowing with triumph, she pulled out several holsters full of sharpened metal.

"I almost forgot. The goblins were more than happy to forge some kunai for us, though I had to pay twenty galleons for the special ones. Ten for the standard sets, since they were made by an apprentice. Apparently they decided to humor me in exchange for giving their apprentice blacksmiths something to do."

Minato opened the holsters eagerly, and grinned. Inside his pouch was a very full set of kunai and shuriken, as well as ten of his special three pronged ones. The edges weren't as sharp as he liked, but that meant he would simply have to do weapon's maintenance more often.

Kushina handed out the standard pouches to each of the students.

"Inside these are standard sized kunai and shuriken. The goblins don't mind making them, but I expect you to take care of them. We will spend a month on weapon maintenance and proper aiming instead of dealing with that outright fraud."

"How do you know he's fraud?" asked Hermione scandalized.

"Hermione, any one with sense that reads that trash will know that they are nothing more than glorified travel logs that are in desperate need of proofreading. For kami's sake Jiraiya has a better grasp of book writing than Lockhart, and his are full of spelling errors!"

"Who's Jiraiya?"

Minato smirked, looking at his wife with pleading. She nodded.

"Jiraiya, the great toad sage of Mt. Myobu and a glorified Super Pervert. He is also the author of a rather dirty series called _Icha Icha_ that has sold millions. Unfortunately he can never find anyone to proofread them before he sells them, so they're full of minor errors that could be spotted by anyone with a fourth grade English education."

* * *

(Somewhere in the Elemental Countries)

Jiraiya sneezed heartily, to his horror. Three seconds later he was running for his life as a horde of pissed off women chased him for peeking at them in the hot springs.

_'Someone must be talking about my glorious self. I can sense all that is missing is the Toad entrance in their introduction...'_ he thought as he ran. Unfortunately for him, that stray thought tripped him up as the women descended like a angry hive of Aburame bugs.


	7. Chapter 7

Kushina eagerly watched Minato be sorted into one of the few houses that she didn't already have a foothold in. He could scour the library in no time flat, and the two of them were already used to working together. She had been the one to help him complete his Hiraishin technique.

Minato was considered a seals master, but what no one knew was that he had nothing on his wife. Kushina was a literal Seals Queen. If people didn't notice her personality first she knew full well that her nickname wouldn't have been the Red Habenaro. Kushina could even out do Jiraiya when she put her mind to it, which was saying something. Combined with the Kyuubi (who surprisingly enough didn't mind debating seals with her so long as she let the chains loosen even a little) she was a force to be feared.

Minato happily talked to his sister, who seemed to revel in his company. Kushina knew full well he had always wanted family since his parents died and left him the sole remaining Namikaze member.

It seemed quite a few people were getting their unspoken wish granted. Kushina had always wanted to know her parents and have a proper genin team (damn you council mandates!), Minato wanted a younger sibling to dote on with parents that could understand him. Shinigami wanted the items he allowed in the mortal world dealt with to get rid of his headaches. And as soon as their magical education was over Naruto would be getting his parents back.

She hid a chuckle. The next few years would be more interesting with Minato helping her. At the very least she wouldn't have to make that request for his release to the God of Death.

* * *

Shinigami laughed his ass off at the look on Sarutobi's face. He had told Kushina that she could have one letter to home (ghost form anyway) to the Hokage and her son each, per school year. And since Minato was her back up, he could join her. The look on the old monkey's face made it entirely worth it.

Though it quickly switched to another as Sarutobi realized that once the seven year mission was over, Minato could come back and retake his position as Hokage! His hell was almost over!

Minato personally wanted to see the look on Jiraiya's face when he read the Hokage's order to check the Toad Summoning Contract. Considering how amusing the look would be, Shinigami agreed to let them see it personally. And depending on how they dealt with the trouble coming that year, he might even let Jiraiya act as a go between for them and the village.

* * *

Lockhart couldn't wait for his first class. Though he did frown when he realized that there were four people missing. Three of which were from prominent families and could skyrocket his books if he played his cards right.

It wasn't until halfway through the lesson when he was about to open the cage that he found them. It didn't take long for the class to follow his eyes and gape in shock.

Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom and Kushina Uzumaki...were all on the ceiling playing poker. Kushina and Hermione were helping the boys learn the game, and Kushina was winning by the looks of it. Suddenly the red head looked down and smirked.

"It seems this lesson is over...unless you want to continue?"

Draco handed over his cards in disgust.

"I don't know how you did that without cheating, but you are a bloody card shark!" he said.

Neville agreed as he handed over his. Hermione took them and shuffled them before replacing the deck. Kushina looked at all three.

"Drop, tuck and roll. Remember how I showed you!" she said as she jumped from the ceiling and did a perfect tuck and roll on the ground without getting a scratch.

Draco was first to join her, and did a clumsy but passable one. He wasn't used to the height difference yet. Neville was next, and he managed to do it without breaking anything. Hermione followed after him, though she clearly needed some work.

"All right kiddies, meet me at the library in fifteen. Last one there has to practice their henge!"

In what seemed like no time at all, the four were gone. As if bolstered by such an act, most of the males and one or two of the girls left as well. The rest simply stared at the swinging door in shock.

* * *

Minato caught up to them with amusement.

"You left nearly half a class gaping in disbelief. The other half left in disgust."

"Good. The less time the spend with that fraud the better off they will be."

"Want me to post actual lesson plans for you in Ravenclaw?"

"Yes please. I'm thinking one chapter or book a week, with reports on how much they read. If that fraud isn't going to teach them, we will. At the very least the teachers won't bother us for helping the other students. Hell, the only real issue is Dumbledore catching on to us," she said.

It was a sad day indeed when a merciless mercenary stuck in the body of a twelve year old girl was a better teacher than the one the Headmaster hired to do the job.

At the very least Draco or Neville could ask the school governors to send in an Auror restricted to desk and light duty to teach them.

It wasn't until near September that the real trouble started.

* * *

It was Minato who found the first victim and that on accident. It was a young third year from Slytherin. Minato found him wandering the halls looking dazed like he had had a run in with a Yamanaka who could remove memories.

He frowned, and helped the boy to the Hospital Wing with ease. Poppy clucked her tongue, but when she did a full diagnostic (at Minato's insistence) her eyes widened in horror.

"Where did you find him?!" she demanded.

His suspicion confirmed, he told her exactly where he found the boy and why he had even brought him to the infirmary instead of his dorms. It wasn't like he didn't know where the Slytherins slept since Draco had no issues telling them.

(Especially after he learned Kushina had been told where it was already by Snape.)

Minato stayed with the boy, who took comfort in the aura he let off. If the culprit who harmed him tried anything, he would be in for a nasty surprise.

Snape burst into the infirmary...with Lockhart not far behind. The slight shiver the boy had was all Minato needed. And it gave him exactly the push he needed to join Kushina in her crusade to train the children here in shinobi arts.

Once Snape talked to the nurse in low tones with Lockhart hovering about...until Minato literally kicked him out to the amusement and relief of everyone else, Snape turned to Minato.

Kushina had told him point blank who he was and that he was _her_ back up. Which meant that the blond was one of the few he could trust with sensitive information.

"What the bloody hell happened?"

"I was heading from the library when I spotted him wandering around dazed. I recognized the look from dealing with a few mind walkers in my time, so I brought him to the medic just in case. Turns out my suspicion was correct, and I have a good feeling who the culprit was."

"Lockhart," Snape spat out. He had seen the wince as well.

"Unfortunately, we would be lucky to get a replacement this late into the year. Kushina and I have been helping the other students with a make shift class, but that is only going to get us by until next year at best."

Snape had seen the bulletin board. He applauded their subtle methods.

"I can help you get a club going that should make it easier if this comes out. Would she be willing to teach the Slytherins?"

"Only if they put a serious effort. She was the one to warn me ahead of time that he might be a pedophile, which was the main reason I took that boy to the medic."

Snape scowled. It was bad enough he had to deal with worse idiots teaching a class that they barely had the ability to, but now one was targeting _his_ snakes.

This would not go by unpunished.

"There is another option."

"What is that?" said Snape sourly.

"We confirm it was that poof, and then sick Kushina on him. He doesn't have any defense or even immunity against KI like Malfoy Sr. did, and the minute she learns what he did he's screwed. Maybe we'll get lucky and he die from a heart attack."

"That reminds me. What was that bit I heard about her hair splitting into nine strands and looking like tails?"

"That? An odd quirk that only acts up whenever she is royally pissed. Though to be fair if he had said that to me I might have done worse."

"What did he say?"

"He called her mother a 'mudblood whore'. And I am not paraphrasing that either."

Snape's deepened. While he had had a disagreement with Lily their fifth year, that didn't mean he had no feelings left for her.

"On the plus side, it seems that Narcissa Black is at least sympathetic to her son's new interests. At the very least she was willing to ignore the fact that it was the daughter of a 'Light' clan to teach him how to really fight."

"Not surprising. I'm sure if Walpurga were still alive she would approve of Kushina without a second thought. She was always a fan of a witch who could speak her mind and put people in their proper place."

* * *

"HE WHAT?!"

Draco and Neville winced, but considering what happened it was a natural reaction.

"He's being treated and someone will cast the proper spell so that he won't remember the event with any luck. Snape said he would make our little classes a 'club' in case the old man catches wind, though he would have to be present for our lessons. Flitwick seems to be the only teacher who has caught on to out bulletin board class, and from what I heard he fully supports it and has started to ask if he could be of any help."

"Having a former dueling champion might help quite a bit, and the clones can do the paper grading for us. I'll approach him after class tomorrow to get his advice."

"In any event, this year is going to be full of trouble. I can just tell," groaned Minato.

"On the plus side, the old monkey came through for us. Gather round kiddies, time to see what element you have!" she said cheerfully.

Minato demonstrated his, which was wind and lightning.

Luna had water and some wind, Draco had fire and water, Neville had earth and Hermione had lightning and earth.

"Good thing we can cover most of the elements, right Kushina?"

"Yup! Knew learning earth in my spare time would help for more than gardening!"

"Once you guys get the basics down, we'll start you on some more fun jutsu. I know for a fact that Draco will have quite a bit of fun shooting fireballs at his father..." hinted Minato.

"Fireballs?" said Draco with interest.

Minato grinned as he ran through the signs with practiced ease.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

The flame wasn't big by any shot, but it was still pretty damn impressive to kids just now starting to learn jutsu for the first time.

"And Neville, if you can start on healing with Pomphrey by third year, I'll see if I can't help you get on the Toad contract."

"Huh?"

Minato's grin was contagious as he ran through a completely different set of signs.

"Summoning!"

It was very, very lucky that they were in the Room of Requirement at the time...because he didn't realize how much chakra he put into it. He accidentally summoned Gamabunta. Needless to say Neville was very interested in learning how to summon toads after that. Plus Gamabunta had plenty of tips to keep his beloved pet toad from escaping all the time. Neville had had to buy a small orb full of murky water for Trevor to sleep in.

"**Eh? Minato?"**

"Yo, Gamabunta-sama! I'm not dead yet!" said Minato grinning.

"**I saw the Shinigami take your soul before I dispersed. How the hell are you alive...and in the body of a genin?"**

"Long story short Gamabunta-sama, Shinigami-sama made use of a rather irritating situation that a magical caused," said Kushina.

"**Kushina-chan too? What situation?"**

Kushina explained about the ritual and why she was still here. Needless to say he wasn't too happy about it, though the fact that Minato was still alive soothed some of his worries.

"**Bah. I don't like this. Meddling in the affairs of gods is nothing but trouble."**

"Shinigami-sama said we can go home once we have completed the mission he gave me. And frankly it's easier to do what he wants than to piss him off," said Kushina.

"**True, true. Do you have anything for Jiraiya? He's going to need to know about this...**"

Minato smirked evilly.

"Shinigami-sama promised us front row seats to when he gets the order from Sarutobi. I hope he lets me take pictures of the event, because that is blackmail _gold_."

Gamabunta laughed. That would be highly amusing.

"**Save me a few pictures. Maybe I can use them to get that idiot to quit using my children in those damn hot springs. Did you know that over half of Fire country hot springs actually nail dead toads to the women's side of the springs because of his stupidity?"**

"I don't doubt it for a second. The only thing I want you to tell him is that his books suck and he needs to learn how to write better!" said Kushina.

Gamabunta laughed as he left. At the very least he could go home with some _good_ news this time.

The four genin were very impressed with the toad boss, none more so than nervous Neville.

"If I can start healer's training by third year, do you think he'll be that nice to me?" he asked.

"So long as you show him proper respect, he won't care. Though I really doubt you guys could summon a boss of any species. No offense, but your chakra coils were unlocked to late to develop them to that point, and the strain might kill you."

"None taken," said Draco. Having a toad that big staring at you was...disconcerting to say the least.

"Look at the time! I suppose that concludes today's lesson," said Kushina.

They all left with a lot of questions. Hermione spent half the night discussing summons with Kushina. The only thing the red head could thing of was at least the girl wasn't like Orochimaru in any sense of the man.

* * *

A few days before Halloween, Kushina was asked something special by Nick, the resident ghost of the Lion's den.

Kushina wasn't that big a fan of Halloween, despite the fact that she loved the sweets. Particularly when she taught the house elves how to make some eastern dishes...particularly dango and ramen. It wasn't Ichiraku's by a long shot, but the taste alone kept her from attacking Ron whenever he tried to steal some of hers.

If his behavior didn't improve by the end of the year, she had full permission from Percy and Arthur to do whatever she felt was necessary to straighten him out. So long as the damage wasn't permanent...or Molly learned about what she was going to do. As the youngest son of six older brothers, Ron had been coddled.

It had taken an entire month for Minato to get used to the ghosts of Hogwarts. For some _bizarre_ reason both Minato and Jiraiya were downright terrified of ghosts. The mere thought of being near one scared the hell out of them.

_'Please for the love of Kami let Naruto be normal,'_ thought Kushina.

Nick had asked her to come and join his Death Day party. Kushina agreed...only if he made sure there was hot ramen there for the mortals to eat. The house elves only made it once a month, if she was lucky.

She had to knock Minato out with a well timed stunner, and dragged him bodily to the party. This would be fun, and Draco was learning the fine art of blackmail from her. He had a camera ready and was shown how to use it by Hermione.

The minute the blond woke up, he took one look at his surroundings and nearly had a freak out. A flash went off, and he saw Draco snickering with Kushina giving him a thumbs up.

"I so hate you right now."


	8. Chapter 8

Kushina got Minato to calm down after talking to him in private. No one knew what was said, but Luna who had been closest had a rather interesting look on her face.

"Is that even possible?" she asked Kushina later.

"With enough flexibility and an open enough mind it is. Once you hit fourteen I'll help you learn yoga," said Kushina with a wink.

"Kushina! No corrupting my sister!" yelled Minato from across the room.

Kushina grinned as she yelled back "Only If you want that second rate author to corrupt her!"

Minato paled...and nodded miserably. Better for Kushina to do it instead of Jiraiya. At least she would keep Luna's innocence intact.

Nick floated over to her in amusement. Her boyfriend (it was pretty damn obvious that Micheal and Kushina were an item, the two weren't exactly discreet) was making many of the ghosts there laugh. It was unusual to find someone so terrified of ghosts in a castle full of them.

Just as Kushina was about to devour her fifth bowl of ramen (the house elves delivered about twenty large bowls) the headless hunt arrived and made a mess of Nick's party.

Kushina couldn't let that go unpunished, so she made a quiet request to Shinigami-sama for Nick's sake.

A cold presence swept through the room, making ghost and student shiver in dread. There was a loud snick...and without warning Nick's head came clean off! Before the presence left, they all heard a dark chuckle.

Kushina laughed at everyone's surprised looks.

"Oh that was _priceless!_" she cackled.

Nick carefully picked up his head and plopped it back on. Though now he had to be careful how he moved or it would fall off. He seemed very pleased by that, despite the fact his head had just been cut off but something twice.

"I take it you know what that was about Kushina?" he asked amused.

"Of course I do! I asked Shinigami-sama to do you a favor, since you're my favorite ghost out of the whole school Nick!" she said grinning.

The leader of the Headless Hunt gave her a cold look.

"How would a mere _girl_ like you know the Eastern God of Death?" he said annoyed.

Kushina's smile didn't waver a bit as she leveled some of her KI at the horseman. The ghostly horse reared back, and dropped him on his ass.

"How...?! Mortals shouldn't be able to affect a ghost!"

"That's right, _normal_ mortals can't affect something like a dullahan. However I have never been normal," she said grinning. Behind her, her hair rose into nine neat segments and a ghostly presence in the shape of a monstrous fox appeared.

The headless horseman wisely shut his trap. No way in hell was he going to annoy someone who had a bloody bijuu from the East sealed inside of them!

* * *

"That was so fun!" said Kushina.

"15 bowls... 15 bowls..." Hermione kept muttering. It was physically impossible for someone Kushina's size to eat 15 bowls of ramen that were the size of a quaffle! And to top it all off, only Micheal had been able to finish even _one_!

Luna had come second. Everyone else had to give up a little past half way!

"Bah, I would have eaten thirty if they had sent more!" said Kushina with a throw of her red hair.

"How the hell did you eat _15_?! Those bowls were huge!" said Hermione scandalized.

"I have a special Ramen seal on my stomach..." smirked Kushina.

Minato groaned as he facepalmed. He knew very well what seal she was referring to, and it wasn't a freaking ramen seal. Then again, she had always been able to put away ramen.

"Hey, where are going?" asked Draco.

"Dunno. The feast isn't over for another five minutes," said Kushina.

"...Um guys, why is there water on the floor?" asked Neville.

"Didn't Peeves insult Myrtle at the start of the Party?" asked Luna.

"Geez. I'll have to have another talk with him about that. He knows I don't like to see kids cry," said Kushina.

"...What is that on the wall?" said Draco.

Their eyes immediately went to the form on the wall and the bloody writing on the wall. Kushina took a whiff and backed away.

"Ugh, wet paint."

"How do you know it's not blood?" said Hermione worriedly.

"Easy, it smells like that weird paint magicals like so much. It doesn't have a whiff of copper to it."

"How do you know what blood smells like?" asked Neville.

"Let me put it this way...didn't you wonder what happened to the stuttering moron we had last year?"

"I thought he quit because of nerves...?" said Draco.

Kushina whistled innocently as she pointed upward.

"Huh?"

"I can hear a crowd coming, and fast. If we don't want to be blamed we better haul ass," said Kushina.

Minato looked behind him and said "She's right. Jump!"

Minato, Kushina and Luna all jumped, doing a perfect flip as their feet landed on the ceiling. Hermione, Draco and Neville all ran up the walls to join them. Instead of being caught at the scene of what they thought was a prank gone wrong, they all split off and headed straight to their common room. The ghosts had promised to cover for them after Kushina helped Nick out. Which meant they would have a solid alibi for where they were all night.

It wasn't until morning that they heard the news about Mrs. Norris.

* * *

Minato's scowl was so terrifying that Lockhart backed off all the way to the wall...on the other end of the hall.

"Why the hell would I want _'private lessons' _with a hack like you?" said Minato.

The hall was completely devoid of others, Minato was about to turn around when his shinobi senses kicked into overdrive. He did a duck and roll, not caring that his books went flying. Lockhart had just shot a spell at him, probably a stunner.

"I was going to let you off easy by erasing anything that brat told you...but for that hack comment I'll have to _'punish' _you..." said Lockhart with a sneer.

"...Seriously? Out of all the kids in the entire school you were dumb enough to try and challenge me?" said Minato.

An hour after Minato was done dealing with Lockhart, McGonagall finally came to see what the commotion was all about. Only to find Lockhart with more broken bones than her Quidditch team whenever the Twins got a little too rough with the bludgers. They had to do all the homework of the students who were hurt, and had learned never to lose control like that again.

"WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!" she said in absolute shock.

"Owwww..." said Lockhart.

McGonagall was quick to levitate him to the hospital wing, where Micheal Lovegood was being treated for some bruised wrists. It looked like an older classmate tried to grab him.

The second Lockhart laid eyes on Micheal, he flinched and then started crying from pain. Minato said something to Pomphrey in a low tone, and the woman did her best not to glare at Lockhart. As a result, his 'class' was canceled for a week until he could recover from his injuries.

But the repercussions of the event would continue well past the first semester.

* * *

"WHAT?! That bastard, I'll...!" snarled Kushina.

"Oh, don't worry. He won't try that a second time after the amount of KI I leveled at him while I nearly broke every bone in his body," said Minato smugly.

"I can't believe that third rate wizard tried to stun a student," said Draco.

"A student who could very well have blown his cover instead of insuring that the man couldn't harm anyone else by blocking him. Percy believed you when you told him didn't he?"

"He and the other prefects are helping us out by giving detentions to those slated for 'private lessons'. Luckily we're able to catch them thanks to the twin's help," said Kushina.

_Flashback_

"You want us to _what_?" said George.

"I want you to booby trap the Defense classroom and those adjoining it. I don't want any students going in there without someone at least from fifth year accompanying them."

"Why?"

"Lockhart...Micheal confirmed he's a freaking pedophile with a thing for those third year and younger. I don't want any more victims by that man if I can do something to stop it."

Fred and George shared a look and said "We can help. But we need a time frame to work with."

"He can't do anything during class hours, so anytime after that to Midnight."

"...We can't keep an eye out all that time. We have to study too!"

"Fine, but do you have anything that can track the students that I can borrow?"

"We have just the thing!" said Fred.

"Presenting the Marauder's Map!" said George.

Kushina looked at it, felt the large mass of chakra on the paper and said "What's the password?"

"_'I solemnly swear I am up to no good'_, and to turn it back say 'Mischief Managed'!" said the twins.

She tapped her wand saying the password, and to her surprise a complete map of the school appeared complete with little dots that had names on them.

"Perfect! Just what we needed!"

"But you can't tell anyone else."

"The only other person I would tell is Micheal and Luna. Hermione has yet to break her passion for rules, Neville would crack to easily and Draco is in another house that is known for keeping secrets over other's heads."

"Fair enough!" said George.

"Micheal's cool, for a kid!"

"Better than Ron is so many ways!" said George.

(Little known fact about the Weasly brothers: While they are a close knit group, they often prefer hanging out with Micheal Lovegood as opposed to Ron. As a result, his mother coddled him to the point that he is a literal Mamma's boy. For this reason, Ron has a serious grudge against Micheal, who has the respect of his older brothers.)

"Good to know you like him so much!"

"We definitely approve of his relationship with you, our one and only rival!" said the twins with a thumbs up.

Kushina felt a cold shiver go down her back at that sight.

_'Dear kami, all they're missing is the bowl hait cut, the thick eyebrows, spandex and annoying voice...and they could be a perfect double Gai... Ooh! What a purr-fectly evil idea to use on that pedophile prick!'_

The cackle Kushina let off at the thought scared the twins, so they split off before McGonagall came to investigate the terrifying noise.

_Flashback End_

* * *

A month after Lockhart was fully recovered and the 'private lessons' were about to resume, Kushina put into action one of her most _evil_ prank ideas to date.

Lockhart would get his private lessons...but when she was through with him he would avoid pissing her off again.

"I am so pleased you accepted my offer for private lessons Draco~!" said Lockhart.

Unseen by the fool, Draco and Kushina were watching the whole thing from above with cameras waiting. Kushina had promised him a show if he could handle what was about to happen.

The moment Lockhart started becoming grabby, Kushina sent the signal.

Without warning 'Draco' (which was actually one of her shadow clones disguised as him) turned into the most _horrifying_ thing imaginable for Lockhart.

A jounin by the name of Might Gai, the Green Beast of Konoha. The moment Lockhart sprang back, the Gai-look-alike started dragging him around the school forcing him to run at obscene speeds (for an untrained wizard like Lockhart anyway) screaming about the flames of youth.

Students and teachers alike gaped at the sight in shock. In the Defense classroom, Draco had to be held up by Kushina as he roared with laughter. They had taken so many pictures that it would be impossible for Lockhart to get rid of them all.

"Who the heck was that?" Draco asked when he could finally breathe again.

"Might Gai, a taijutsu nut case. As you can tell, he tends to be quite eccentric and likes to promote what he calls the 'flames of youth'. I fear for the world if he ever has children..."

"Dear spirits...someone like that _exists_ in real life?!"

"Yup. Thankfully he has never spawned another copy, or I would fear for the world. He has this thing that can mental scar a person for life if he really gets going."

"What is that?"

"Something everyone should fear. The 'Sunset of Youth' genjutsu. Thankfully it takes two people to get it going otherwise..."

Draco shuddered.

For an entire week all people could talk about was the bizarre man seen dragging Lockhart halfway across the school and back.

Lockhart quit asking students to try his private lessons after Kushina told him after the defense class that if he continued it she would do several repeats of the event.

* * *

"So...Christmas. Any plans?"

"Most of the school is leaving after the attacks. Especially after Nick was..." said Hermione.

Kushina's hair did the nine-way split again. The moment she heard about Nick she went ballistic and swore revenge on the culprit. Even after the entire Defense Club Lockhart tried to start where she accidentally revealed she could snake speak, no one believe for a second that she was the Heir of Slytherin.

Mostly because if she wanted to take out someone else, she would do it herself and not use the Chamber's Monster. Everyone in the school knew of her policy on bullies. Well, that and she went ballistic and nearly maimed Lockhart by 'mistake'.

"I still can't believe the fuss people made about the whole parselmouth thing."

"It's considered a dark ability, but once they realized who was doing the speaking and compared it what they already knew of you..."

"Everyone knew I could care less and would pinch the cheeks of anyone who made a big deal about it," said Kushina grinning.

Whenever someone made a big deal out of nothing, Kushina would pinch their cheeks hard. Once they were focused on the pain she would then explain things in terms they could understand and the entire situation went away. It was something that baffled the other students.

"Anyway, Gryffindor is about to be emptied except for a few like the twins and Ron. Neville promised his grandmother that he would come home this year since he skipped out last time, and Draco is still avoiding his father."

"What about the Lovegoods?"

"Luna has asked to stay in our tower and Micheal will be bunking with the twins. They already got the teacher's permission since their parents are heading overseas for a couple's vacation."

"Good. Neville is still in the beginning stages of healing, but his progress is remarkable. Augusta was rather pleased when she heard my reports on his ability."

"What?"

"I've been sending monthly progress reports to any of the parents who were interested. Mito doesn't mind the exercise a bit, in fact she rather enjoys it."

"...Can I borrow your owl to send my parents letters?"

"Sure. I do a mass mail out once a week every Sunday."

"So how were our progress reports?"

Kushina brought out a book with a graph on it. It labeled several areas, names and progression rates.

_Draco Malfoy_

**Taijutsu:_ 30 percent improvement since starting_**

**Chakra:_ 75 percent increase_**

**Jutsu and Handsign memorization: _could use some work, 10 percent_**

**Personality: _Has made several strides, and bullying is now __almost non-existant. Note to self, ego is still something of an issue._**

_Hermione Granger_

**Taijutsu: _45 percent increase since start_**

**Chakra: _70 percent increase over summer_**

**Jutsu and Handsign memorization: _may have photographic memory, almost 75 percent memory for hand signs_**

**Personality: _Bossiness is now at an acceptable level, though her study habits may need some adjusting to avoid possible burn out._**

_Neville Longbottom_

**Taijutsu: _90 percent increase over summer_**

**Chakra: _50 percent since starting regular exercises with lifting heavy bags_**

**Jutsu and Handsign memorization: _Could use some work but still at acceptable levels_**

**Personality:_ Needs some serious confidence boosting, but is very reliable in a tight spot. May need to introduce him to Gai if his timidness continues past fifth year..._**

Hermione looked at the detailed graphs and then at her.

"What about your progress?"

Kushina sighed, and handed over the last book with the progress reports for Luna, Micheal and herself.

_Kushina Uzumaki_

**Taijutsu: _skills almost past previous level at same age_**

**Chakra: _slightly diminished but still at a comfortable level_**

**Jutsu and Handsign memorization:_ had to rehash a few things with Minato, but overall still fairly high_**

**Personality: _No change since being forced to come here._**

_Micheal Lovegood/Minato Namikaze_

**Taijutsu:_ has improved since I last saw him, maybe training with Luna had some effect?_**

**Chakra: _slightly diminished, but should return to previous levels by time we leave._**

**Jutsu and Hand Sign memorization:_ Has started to work on one handed seals, though progress is fairly slow._**

**Personality: _slightly more protective than I remember, but that could be due to the fact that he has a younger sister this time around. Otherwise no change._**

_Luna Lovegood_

**Taijutsu:_ has high skill level, but according to Minato they train together._**

**Chakra: _Either high chunin or a very low jounin. Still very impressive._**

**Jutsu and Hand sign memorization: _The girl is a freaking sponge!_**

**Personality:_ acceptable quirks, especially with her ability to see past normal views. Note to self, look underneath the underneath when she drops cryptic messages._**

"Why is her report higher than ours?"

"Micheal trained her from a much earlier age, and she gets more personal tutoring. Well, that and her chakra coils were unlocked much earlier which does make a huge difference."

Hermione decided to drop it and went back to reading the book on seals Kushina had handed her.

* * *

**_I am pleased to announce that this fic IS going to be completed, unlike most of my other works. I even have a sequel about to be made once Kushina and Dumbledore finally face off, and the title will be Trials of the Fox. Also I have a one shot where Sirius gets into the BINGO books that is sure to make you laugh your socks off once I get to third year. Again, this fic IS going to be completed and I am merely giving you all time to enjoy the chapters that were already created._**


	9. Chapter 9

Kushina yawned, and realized with a start that Shinigami-sama had highjacked her again. She spotted Minato and a few cameras nearby. So she kicked her husband awake and pointed at a certain pervert walking along the street. Minato grinned and took up the camera. A man passing by slipped something into Jiraiya's pocket without saying a word.

Jiraiya headed out of town to read the orders, and the moment he finished the first sentence he frowned.

_'Jiraiya, _

_I've received reliable reports that state that Minato may still be alive. I want you to check the Toad Contract to see if his name is still on it. If it is I want you to report back in the village so we can possibly try and contact him._

_Sarutobi.'_

Jiraiya summoned the Toad that held the contract for him (it was too much of a target for enemy nins. Contracts with any animal were rather valuable.) and took out the scroll.

The moment he unfurled it, his face grew pale as a ghost. There, right beside his name was the name _Namikaze Minato._ It was glowing the same as his own, which could only mean that the one who signed the contract was still alive.

He turned. He heard the sound of odd clicking that was usually associated with cameras, but he could see nothing there.

Meanwhile Kushina and Minato were laughing their asses off at the look on Jiraiya's face. It was even funnier than the time they managed to successfully capture a picture of him running for his life from Tsunade!

Behind them Shinigami-sama appeared amused.

"_I'm making doubles, so you know."_

"Blackmail for when he finally croaks?" said Kushina with a knowing grin.

"_Damn straight. Even gods have to do paperwork, and my workload is hell itself!"_

Kushina snickered, and then began to plot for Jiraiya's welcome. Minato felt sorry for the Toad Sage when he died. Between Kushina's evil suggestions and the god's laughter, he was in for a rough time...

* * *

"So anyway, I keep hearing a snake hissing in the pipes..." said Kushina.

"You sure?"

"This place runs on magic, not gas. The only other thing that would make a hiss like that is a snake. From the sound of it, it's a fairly big one," said Kushina.

"About how big?" asked Minato.

"I would say...about the same size as a medium large snake from Training Ground 44 at least. Possibly slightly bigger," said Kushina.

Minato nearly choked on his chocolate frog.

"Medium Large?!"

"How big is this medium large snake?" asked Draco warily.

Kushina thought about it, and had him hold a magical conjured rope. She went down the hall and didn't stop until she nearly reached the end.

Draco and the others gaped.

"Oh wait, that's for a medium..."

She kept on going to the end of the hall. It was nearly eighty feet of rope on the ground.

"How the hell did you escape after you measured something like that?!"

"Oh, I just went in and asked them if they wouldn't mind us having a measurement of their length. You should have heard the arguments between them about who was longer!" grinned Kushina.

"Considering the tigers in there kept interrupting you..." muttered Minato.

"Tigers?" said Hermione faintly.

"Fire Country Tigers. Biggest damn things in that forest. I bet Hagrid could probably tame a small one, but it would still be bigger than he is..." said Minato offhandedly.

"You know maybe we should bring him with us...I can totally see the Akimichi clan allowing him to marry one of their older daughters..."

"You kidding? They would jump at the chance for a guy like him!" snorted Minato.

"Akimichi?" said Neville.

"Akimichi...it's a family back home that prides itself on food and being the heaviest shinobi in the Fire Country. But most of their family techniques require a _lot_ of calories to use, so they tend to be pretty damn big. But they're one of the nicest people you will ever meet, so long as you don't comment on their weight," said Minato.

"What kind of things can they do?" asked Draco.

"Well I know of one that can turn himself into a literal giant for a limited amount of time," said Minato.

"Isn't that the clan head?" asked Kushina.

"I think so," said Minato.

"So what are we going to do about that snake?" asked Hermione.

"We find it...and depending on what kind it is, deal with it. If it's poisonous enough or deadly enough we can always give it to Anko. Kami knows she would love having a snake that big as a pet," said Kushina.

"So what is your next class?" asked Minato quickly.

"Defense," said Draco.

"Is everyone at the usual spot?" asked Kushina?"

"Those serious about learning defense magic will be there," said Draco.

Kushina had left a notice in all houses that those serious about learning defense against dark arts could meet someone who actually knew what they were doing in a large abandoned classroom. The other teachers looked the other way because they actually _wanted _their students to succeed.

* * *

Kushina walked up to the stage with a grin.

"Welcome everyone to a real lesson about Defense Against the Dark Arts! I would like to thank each and every one of you for actually taking your safety serious and coming here today!"

Kushina's makeshift class succeeded for many reasons, but the main ones were rather simple.

One, everyone had long since figured out she was actually Kaori Potter who was raised somewhere in the East and preferred her adopted name. Two, she actually gave a damn about the students and did her best to help them when they needed it, like when it came to relationships. (Some considered her like a second mother, considering her forgiving nature. Particularly the younger students.) But the main reason was this.

Many had witnessed her basic taijutsu exercises that she tended to do outside every morning before breakfast. And the fact that people still talked about how she took out a troll without any help was still the talk of the school. Draco had confirmed those rumors, so people were eager to learn from someone with actual experience.

"Next, I would like to congratulate those who had enough common sense to actually try the bulletin board course, which I can assure you almost all the teachers support fully since we can never be sure of a proper defense teacher in this place. As it stands I will post the class rankings for each year if anyone is actually interested. Now before we begin, I want to know what you, the students, would actually _like_ to learn from this class. I have some papers here, and once I read them over we'll start the real work. Coincidentally if Dumbledore or the Ministry asks, this is a study group/Defense club for all years."

Kushina gave them all a bow, and everyone took a piece of paper and wrote what they wanted to learn. During their next meeting Kushina got them started on hexes, curses and jinxes that were age appropriate.

The 7th and 5th years enjoyed having a proper teacher in charge of defense for a change. Because of the so called curse on the job, it was highly unlikely that they would get a decent teacher each year. At the very least, Kushina would have them ready for OWLs and NEWTs.

* * *

Kushina frowned. There had been another attack, this time a boy from her own house. Colin Creevey, a first year, had been attacked by the snake. His camera had been damaged as well, and the film was lost.

(Yes, I know Colin was one of the first attacked, but Kushina's ongoing humiliation of Lockhart had changed the arrangement a bit.)

No one wanted to gain her attention, because she was on the warpath. She considered all the Lions like her cubs (everyone knew about that quirk, but thankfully no one ever commented on it) and an attack on them was like an attack on her.

Not even Lockhart was stupid enough to cross her at the moment.

Kushina was dragged again from her dreams to see Shinigami-sama waiting.

"_Jiraiya will be here in a week. He has been receiving some...assistance...in finding this place. You can find him near the lake edge."_

"I have only one question. If the thing attacking the students is a creature, what seal is the best to deal with it?"

Shinigami-sama looked amused.

"_The creature has a pair of unique mystic eyes that can kill with a glance. But, in the interest of not interfering with mortal matters, I cannot tell you what the creature is specifically. What I can tell you is that you may find this particular book very interesting..."_

Kushina awoke with a seals book she had only seen in the classified section of the Hokage library. It was classified because it held seals that could seal a doujutsu away permanently. If the Hyuga knew it existed, they would raise a bigger stink than the Uchiha had when the people of Whirlpool brought it with them.

As far as anyone knew, it had been burned the day Madara Uchiha had tried to kill the First Hokage.

In reality that had been a copy, and the true seals had been passed down from Uzumaki to Uzumaki as part of their heritage. Kushina knew fully well how to create those seals, but she had forgotten what it looked like over the years.

Her eyes went past the page with the seal designed to rob someone of the Sharingan...and went straight to a chapter that most had overlooked.

The Seal of Mystic Eyes. The very fact that Mystic Eyes existed was something of a long forgotten mystery, since they had been lost in the Elemental Areas.

And she was about to face a creature that carried those same eyes.

Dear Ametarsu...

* * *

Kushina went to visit Hagrid who had been acting odd since the entire Chamber of Secrets had been reopened.

"Hagrid, either you open up this door and explain what is wrong or I'm breaking it down," said Kushina with a scowl.

Hagrid said nothing, not wanting to explain his past. Without warning the door flew past him and crashed loudly on the opposite wall. He stared at the extended leg of the red head looking very annoyed with him.

"Now, either you talk...or you'll have to deal with me," she said angry.

Hagrid propped to door where it was, and sighed. The more he explained the deeper her scowl got. The moment he told her of his wand being snapped, she slapped the table with both hands.

"That is complete and utter _bullshit_! How could they take the world of one student over the other without even asking you your side?"

Hagrid had tears in his eyes. Finally, someone other than Dumbledore believed him.

"Hagrid...if we can ever prove you _weren't_ the one to set loose this creature...would you be willing to join me when I return home? I know of an entire family that would be very happy to talk to you, and they could care less about the fact that you're half Giant."

"How did yer know I was half Giant?"

"Hagrid, you're nearly 8 feet tall and are at least bigger than most humans on unhealthy diets. The only explanation is that you are half giant. Do you really think I give half a crap about the fact you aren't fully human?"

Hagrid looked like he was about to bawl. It was nice to know that the most popular witch in the school cared so much about him. Kushina gave him a hug as best she could, and Hagrid finally let his emotions go.

Before she left his cabin, she repaired his door for him.

She had a lot of work to do.

* * *

Jiraiya waited impatiently on the cold wet rock. For some reason none of his toads wanted to be summoned, and the only one that came through had a message from Gamabunta.

"_Quit trying to summon us. We aren't going to get in the way of your beat down!"_

He sensed the presence of two powerful chakra, one stronger than the other.

"Who's there?" he said.

"Hello you damn Pervert. Has that crappy writing of yours gotten any better?" smirked a familiar red head.

If Jiraiya was pale before, it was nothing compared to how pale he became when he saw Kushina. And it got even worse when a familiar head of blond hair came out.

"Kushina? Minato?!"

"Surprise, surprise!" said Kushina with evil glee. She snapped many pictures with precision before his look faded back to normal.

"How?"

"I don't know about Kushina, but Shinigami-sama told me that I was going to be given a second chance if I helped someone I knew complete a very important mission of his. The next thing I knew I was waking up in the form of an infant a few years before the Fox attacked the village and I had a new twin sister."

"Bah. The old goat who runs the castle by this lake performed a foul and forbidden ritual to drag my ass here, and my body ended up returning to that of an eleven year old. Shinigami-sama said we would get a free ride home if we retrieved three items he let loose here centuries ago. If I hadn't been pulled here and taken to the infirmary immediately I would have died from internal bleeding," said Kushina.

"How do I know you're really who you claim to be?"

Minato flew through familiar hand signs and summoned the same toad Jiraiya usually sat on while peeping. Kushina decided to focus on the fact that Jiraiya had never once checked on Naruto and her KI was raised enough that her hair did the nine-way split it always did when she was really pissed.

That was enough to convince him, though the image of the Fox was somewhat worrying.

"I thought it escaped?"

"Oh, it did. Minato here sealed at least 80 percent of it's Yin chakra inside me and placed the Yang inside Naruto...coincidentally Jiraiya..." said Kushina, her anger still present.

_'Oh crap...'_

Jiraiya was beaten black and blue, and he considered himself lucky that Minato and Kushina were at the same strength as two very high level genin or a low level chunin.

"Now what are you going to do when you return to the village?" asked Kushina sweetly.

"I am going to report to Sarutobi that you two are alive, if slightly younger than before."

"And?" said Minato dangerously.

"I will do my duty and check on my godson like I was supposed to," said the Sage, whimpering.

"You can also bring us some ANBU gear and proper weapons. Kushina has secured a link to some goblins who can create passable shuriken and kunai, but we need real weapons."

"Also tell Anko she might be getting a new pet with sealed Mystic Eyes...if we're lucky," said Kushina as an after thought.

Minato and Jiraiya sputtered.

"Now, Jiraiya, I want you to help my baby get started on seals. I sent him a few books on the subject but the last time he sent me a letter he said that he could use some help."

"Yes ma'am..." said Jiraiya with a whimper. Dealing with a pissed off Kyuubi container was not his idea of a good day.


	10. Chapter 10

Kushina took one look at the Great Hall...and then stepped out. It was pink...horrifically pink.

_Dear Kami, did a Haruno redecorate the great hall?!_

Minato walked up, just as disturbed. Though his look was more for the really horrifying dwarves forced to look like small cupids. He had an idea of what those harps were for, and he sure as hell didn't want any part of it.

Kushina spotted her genin team and hissed at them not to go in.

Minato and Kushina grabbed the four and bolted. The moment they found a nearby classroom that had been abandoned, they slapped so many seals on the door that a bijuu would have difficulty getting in. As it stood, Kushina tried in vain to drown out the rather sappy poem that a fan had written for her.

Kushina wasn't oblivious. She knew her popularity was the highest in the school, and since she was an unwed, powerful female most families would jumped to have her as a daughter.

As it stood, Minato had owled his parents about a contract between him and Kushina to avoid this very problem. When asked through the goblins, Kushina had agreed when she heard who was doing the asking. They would be married by sixth year unless one of the parties decided to break the contract early.

Unfortunately the contract itself wouldn't take effect until next year...

"Dear Ametarasu...who the hell thought of hiring _dwarves_ to sing Valentines?" asked Kushina with a shudder.

Draco twitched as well. He had a few of his own, and they were so off key that they made him visibly ill.

"I'll give you two guesses...and you won't need one," said Minato horrified.

Lockhart, from his spot at the teacher's table, shuddered. Someone had danced on his grave, he just knew it.

"So have there been any reports of attacks not associated with that damn snake?" asked Kushina.

"None that I know of..."

"There was one, but Snape moved them pretty damn fast to St. Mungo's," said Draco.

"Who and when?" asked Kushina sharply.

"A first year Slytherin, half blood from a well known house. The reason you didn't know was because Snape had spotted him one door away from the classroom and moved him from the school rather quickly."

"That does it. It's bad enough we have a damn snake with Mystic Eyes on the loose, but adding a pedophile on top of all that is the last straw! Minato, we're finding that Chamber by weekend if it kills us!"

Minato scowled, but he fully agreed. With any luck Lockhart would try to confront them after they found it so they could use him as a living shield.

* * *

Luck, it seemed, was not in the school.

On Friday, Hermione was attacked with Neville and Draco. They had been petrified, thankfully. Kushina was so enraged that she went looking for Myrtle, the only ghost she had yet to meet personally.

Kushina didn't mind asking the ghosts how they died, if anything they seemed rather pleased to tell others. The moment Kushina learned how Myrtle died, she put two and two together.

It didn't take her long after that to locate the opening of the Chamber.

Which meant they hit the damn snake on Sunday during the Quidditch game. Kushina had seals to prepare, and with Hermione out of commission the girl couldn't help her.

Not that Kushina would allow her to read the Uzumaki clan book, copied word for word by Kushina when she was three. It was one of the weirder exercises her clan had her do once they found she was a natural prodigy with seals. They had her copy the Clan book, then burn it to keep the secrets from ever leaving the clan. Every third month, she would copy, memorize and burn the book. Minato had commented on it once, but Kushina never told him why she did it.

Kushina had used her second message to Naruto during Christmas to give him that same book, and told him that he was to never read it outside his mind. Naruto had promised her he would read it whenever he got the chance.

When she finally returned home, she would get him started on the tradition.

* * *

_**Their skeletons will lie in the Chamber forever.**_

That was the message scrawled underneath the original one. Those eight words did something that would haunt Snape for years.

It put Minato on the warpath. Whoever had kidnapped his sister and Ginerva Weasly would be dead before the sun rose the next morning.

Lockhart, in his infinite stupidity, tried to detain them with the idea that he could claim to have killed the monster, at the cost of two young girls.

He was pinned and bleeding from various wounds before he knew what hit him. Minato held his special kunai at the man's throat and he had every intention of killing him and feeding him to the damn monster if he spoke another word. Lockhart was so terrified he actually pissed himself.

"Congratulations, _Professor._ You have just volunteered to become our bait,"said Kushina with a smile that completely terrified the already scared man. If the snake didn't kill him, she would.

Kushina walked up to the sink she had found and hissed. It was a talent she rarely spoke of because of Orochimaru. The man already wanted her body because of her clan...if he knew she could snake speak fluently he would stop at nothing to possess her.

That was a talent she passed to her son. She knew that much from the fact that the villagers kept spreading rumors that Anko, Orochimaru's unfortunate apprentice, was protecting him despite her protests that she never had anything to do with the boy. It wasn't her fault that Naruto, in a fit of cleverness, asked the most poisonous snakes in the village to guard him in exchange for helping him get rid of his rat problem.

If he could keep one of the snakes from the Forest of Death outside his apartment, he would.

Minato practically threw Lockhart down the pipe. The man screamed like a civilian girl, before he made a noise indicating he reached the bottom.

Kushina slid down with Minato right beside her. Before Lockhart got any ideas, Minato had him pinned with another kunai, though not one of his specials.

"Start walking, teme," said Minato in a low growl.

Lockhart walked forward...and didn't stop until they found the fresh snake skin.

He fainted, or so it seemed...until he found Minato's slime covered sandal on his throat.

"Nice try, but we know you're faking. Keep walking before I slit your throat and throw your lousy corpse to the snake as a snack!" snarled Minato.

Lockhart whimpered, and kept walking. Had they been anyone other than trained killers, he might have been able to steal one of their wands and escape. He had the bad luck of pissing off the only shinobi in a one hundred mile radius.

They stopped at a large door, and Kushina hissed at it. The snake slithered around the circle, opening the hidden lock.

Minato pressed the kunai into Lockhart's spine, forcing him to move. It took all his shinobi training not to run to the prone forms of Luna and Ginny. Kushina made three clones, one of which took over for Minato so he could check on his sister.

"Luna!"

"They won't wake. Especially not little Ginny," said a voice rather smug.

Kushina spat.

"If you're going to bring out the damn snake, at least give me time to put this prick into the proper position to get eaten," said Kushina irritably.

Tom Riddle, the true Heir of Slytherin, looked rather amused at her bluntness. He nodded in the direction of the relief's mouth.

Kushina pushed Lockhart in that direction without a care.

"Go ahead and summon it. If that bastard gets killed by the eyes or the snake eating him alive, it will still be a better death than he deserves!" she said coldly.

_Speak to me Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts Four!_

The mouth began to open, and Minato moved both of the girls. Luna had been petrified like the others, but Ginny seemed to be sapped of her chakra. And if Minato didn't stop whatever it was, she would die.

Kushina didn't look at the mouth directly, though she heard Lockhart faint for real this time before the snake could use it's deadly gaze on him.

Minato yelled at her, and she pulled out a long series of seals. She tossed one bundle to him, once he moved the girls to a safe area.

"Fight like a Hyuuga in the dark!" she yelled.

Minato took the hint and moved his new Leaf headband (Jiraiya had brought them a full ANBU set for them along with two new headbands since theirs were either lost or stolen. The first thing they did was place them on.

Both Minato and Kushina were in ANBU gear, and all they were lacking were the masks. Not that they would be able to wear them. Both of their masks had been reassigned since their battle with the Kyuubi...though Kushina's had more or less been destroyed since she had worn a fox one.

The Hokage had tried to save that for their son should he grow old enough, but someone had stolen it and left the destroyed pieces on his desk.

Kushina and Minato pulled their hitai ate down over their eyes. It was part of a joke among the ANBU when they had to fight without using their eyes to say that you should fight like a Hyuuga. Their Byakugan allowed them to see even with their eyes closed, though rarely did they ever do that.

By saying that, Kushina told Minato to fight using his other senses.

The two were so in tune with the other that fighting back to back without their eyes was as easy as breathing to them. As they ducked and dove, they slowly got used to the sound of the basilisk. Riddle cursed them out every time they landed a hit. Each strike of their precise movements came with a sealing tag. Each spike of chakra came with a hiss and the sound of flames.

Kushina and Minato were attempting to find and seal the Basilisk's eyes using a series of seals. If the tag didn't burst into flame, then the seal was the one they needed, and the basilisk would have it's eyes sealed unless someone knew the counter hand signs to go with it.

After the tenth tag, the two paused. The last tag hadn't gone up in flames. Kushina cautiously lifted her hitai ate...and stared at the annoyed snake full on in the eyes. She could literally feel the KI aimed at her, but with the seal on it, the power of the Mystic Eyes couldn't reach her properly.

She glanced at the seal that had worked.

It was the seal of Seiryuu and Suzaku. So named because a phoenix had given the seal to the clan as a dragon appeared in the sky. The only explanation that was given was that it would one day be needed.

It looked like Kushina found why they had left this particular seal with the clan.

"_How dare this impudent hatchling seal me!"_ the snake hissed angrily. From the voice it sounded almost...female?

"_You do realize we could have just as easily killed you. As it stands, I have an offer for you great serpent,"_ said Kushina in snake tongue.

"_Like I would believe a hatchling!"_

Kushina raised her KI, drawing upon the infinite rage of the Kyuubi to augment the feeling. Minato shivered but said nothing.

Suddenly the snake was much more interested in what Kushina had to say. Unlike the current 'Heir', this hatchling knew the laws of the animal kingdom.

It was a kill or be killed world. The strongest commanded those weaker, or killed the creature. And Kushina was proving very well that she was the alpha female in the Chamber.

"_...Fine, what is your offer?"_

"_A chance to live in a forest full of animals your own size and where you won't be forced to live off rats," _ she hissed.

"_In exchange for what?"_

"_There is a woman who bears the mark of one who insults the name of snakes and serpents. She could use a partner such as yourself."_

The snake hissed at the apparition.

"_What of that weak hatchling? He smells foul,"_ said the snake.

"_From what I understand, your venom is strong enough to erode even magical items. Shall we test it out on that stupid diary of his?"_ asked Kushina with a smirk.

The basilisk hissed in dark amusement, and Tom looked very concerned.

It struck the diary, and the venom from it's fangs caused the thing to scream and spout out large streams of ink and what appeared to be blood. With a loud snap, the book was completely ruined. The apparition was no longer around, having been destroyed with the book.

Ginny gasped, but passed out when she realized the snake hadn't been killed. With a shriek, she fainted from shock. Minato removed his hitai ate from his eyes.

"So what do we do with him?"

"It's a she, you dolt. I'm planning to put her in a comfortable storage scroll and having Jiraiya give her to Anko as a present...or a bribe to help Naruto since we can't be there until Shinigami-sama's mission is completed."

Minato shuddered.

"Dear kami...can you imagine that thing and Manda...?"

"Bah. So long as they follow Anko and not that slippery bastard, I don't care what bizarre mental image that idea makes!"

Kushina and Minato drew a large seal for the Basilisk to slither on, and with it's consent, sealed into a scroll. Minato carried the girls up the large pipe while Kushina dragged Lockhart with disgust behind her. She didn't care that she could have levitated the bastard, or that his clothes were being destroyed by the rocks.

* * *

"GINNY!" shrieked Molly.

"Luna! Micheal!" said Selene with tears in her eyes. Flitwick had alerted her rather quickly that Micheal had gone to rescue his sister with Kushina.

Kushina tossed the ruined book onto Dumbledore's desk.

"Next time the wards alert you to a dark artifact, why don't you _investigate_ the damn thing! There isn't a chance in hell that your precious wards didn't pick up on this thing!"

Dumbledore looked at her with patient amusement.

"What do you mean child?" he asked.

Kushina leveled a dark glare at him, her hair beginning the by now infamous nine tailed split. Students had learned that whenever her hair rose and split into nine segments that she was either really annoyed or extremely pissed. Though that was mostly around Lockhart.

"Sealing a soul into an object or person is a Dark, Forbidden Art, almost on par with bringing corpses back to life. Only a true fool or a desperate Dark Lord would dare split their soul. If your wards didn't pick _this_ up, then you need to have specialists come in to check them. Otherwise you are willingly risking the safety of the students," she said coldly.

Molly gasped, hearing that the wards could have stopped this whole mess from the start and the Headmaster had allowed it to go so horribly wrong.

"You sir, are fortunate that the snake didn't kill anyone. Though you could have done more to clear Hagrid of those accusations caused by Tom Riddle back then and stopped him from ruining the poor man's life," said Kushina angrily.

"I wasn't aware you spoke to Hagrid about that incident," said Dumbledore.

"I broke down his door and made him explain why he was acting so damn odd whenever someone mentioned the Chamber. If you don't get your act together, _Headmaster_, then I wouldn't be surprised if Shinigami-sama sent your soul to hell," said Kushina.

Dumbledore leveled a look at her. She glared right back, daring him to try that mind trick Snape once spoke of. She felt a slight pressure in her mind, and watched with open amusement as the man recoiled as if bitten by the very snake inside the Chamber.

"Next time you mind walk, old man, make sure that the person doesn't have something guarding it for them," said Kushina with satisfaction.

She almost missed Lucius appear with a scowl, and her smirk made him back up rather quickly.

"Draco was _most_ informative about where Ginny got that odd diary, Malfoy. I warn you know, you pale haired bastard...if I _ever_ hear that one of your little...toys...harmed another student or released something that most wizards can't handle, I will give you one of my special torture sessions and listen to you scream for mercy. Am I clear?" she asked sharply.

"Crystal," he said, though it looked like he wanted to say more.

She spotted Dobby, who shivered behind his master.

"As it stands I may let you leave here unharmed...in exchange for something of course."

"What do you want?"

"The house elf behind you released from service."

"Done," said Lucius without hesitation. Dobby had been becoming rather useless of late.

Kushina had plans for Dobby, and they involved the twins.


	11. Chapter 11

"You want to _what_?" said Arthur.

"I convinced Malfoy to release his house elf into my service. Consider it payment for giving that artifact to your daughter in the first place," said Kushina smugly.

Dobby watched the proceedings with interest. While poor, they were much better than his previous master.

"But what about you? Couldn't you keep him?" asked Molly in surprise.

"Animals and House Elves don't like me. I have a good idea why, but the way I see it, Dobby would be of more use to you and your family than he would be in Surrey," shrugged Kushina.

The Weaslys reluctantly accepted the elf, and Kushina left the room. She had one last thing to take care of before she could get some sleep. Minato was with his parents, keeping a vigilant eye on his sister.

* * *

Lockhart awoke to find himself in the middle of the Black Lake. Holding him above the water was Kushina Uzumaki.

"Now you listen and listen well, prick. I am only going to give you one last warning. If you every touch a child again, I will find and kill you in the most painful way imaginable. You have only one chance, and that's if the squid doesn't get you first. Am I clear?"

Lockhart nodded very quickly, and Kushina dropped him unceremoniously into the lake. He sputtered and then gaped as the girl walked along the water as if it were nothing! Suddenly his eyes were drawn to something in the water. The giant squid was hungry, and it was agitated by the presence of the demon inside the girl.

Lockhart was torn between screaming and swimming for his life at the sight of the peeved Squid. It didn't eat children, but then again it's natural instincts told it that Lockhart was prey and it was hungry...voraciously so.

Kushina watched with dark amusement and a video camera (courtesy of a certain god) that recorded the entire thing. If Lockhart survived his injuries that the squid gave him, she would be surprised. Particularly since the only teacher close enough to get him past the wards and to St. Mungo's was Snape, and he sure as hell wasn't going to help a man who had harmed two of his snakes.

Dumbledore announced a few days later that Lockhart had been found dead by an animal attack, though they had yet to figure out which one since no one recognized the signs of a squid attack. The news was met with some cheering, particularly the snake house. Snape had informed them of who was behind the two attacks on the younger students and the fact that Kushina Uzumaki (AKA Kaori Potter) had taken proper vengeance on the man.

The two boys that had been attacked were accepted into Durmstrang the next year.

* * *

Kushina read the news from the twins with some annoyance.

Apparently someone named Sirius Black (really, who allowed people to name their children on this side of the world such ridiculous names?) was out to kill her if what the paper said was right.

So she did something most wizards never thought to do.

She owled the goblins for as much information about this Sirius Black, including trial information. What she got back was disconcerting and spoke volumes about how little common sense was valued in the magical world.

Sirius Black was the best friend of James Potter (her biological father, though she had little or no interest in getting to know her birth parents. She was an Uzumaki in all the ways that mattered!) and was apparently the one who betrayed them to the dark lord.

But there was one thing that bothered her. There were no records of a trial, and they had essentially shunted him off to a hell on earth without confirming facts.

Which meant she would have to get his side of the story before she took him out. Kushina and Minato did not hold with traitors. It was a bit of a sore point for both of them, particularly Minato who had lost his previous parents because of a traitor.

Halfway through the summer, she spotted a dog. Normally she would have ignored it but the chakra signature was far too high. It felt like one of Kakashi's nin hounds, except that it had the chakra reserves of an Inuzuka hound or a chunin level opponent.

The _dog_ kept staring at the house she was living in. The only real issue was that Vernon's sister, who breed dogs, had come over for two weeks.

In the interest of keeping the peace (and keeping the rather rotund woman with the mustache _alive_) Kushina opted to camp out with Petunia's permission. The dog started coming near the camp site a few hours after she had finished. She looked it square in the eye and grabbed it before it knew what hit him.

"You, sir are no dog. You feel more like a high level Nin hound than a dog, and I know for a fact that the only shinobi animal within a hundred miles is my owl Mito. So what the hell are you?"

The dog tried for innocent but failed miserably under her gaze. It chuffed, before shifting into the form of the same convict that the twins had mentioned in their last letter.

"So Sirius Black has come to pay me a visit. Before I fill you full of holes made by sharp pointy things, I want to hear _your_ side of the story," said Kushina.

Sirius stared at her.

"You don't think I'm a killer?" he asked in surprise.

"13 people, 12 of which were civilians, only means you might have hit a gas pipe by accident with a blasting curse. I already know you're my godfather through the goblins. So start talking."

Sirius stared a bit more, but explained his side of the tale. Kushina's face didn't change a bit, but her eyes darkened.

"So according to you, you were framed by a mutual friend who went by the nickname of Wormtail, and sentenced without a trial for 12 years? What does this rat look like?"

"A fat little thing with a missing toe. Peter cut off his finger on his right hand claiming I had betrayed them. Little..."

"Well so far your story is plausible. I _have_ seen a fat rat that has lived an unusually long life for a rodent not of the summons realm that is missing a claw. And you haven't shown any of the signs of lying during that whole story. I will give you some leeway, but don't expect me to let your run free," said Kushina.

"You...believe me?"

Kushina looked him dead in the eye as she said "You may be a deranged man, but you aren't a cold blooded killer. I should know."

Sirius agreed to stay in his dog form until she could confirm that the rat she knew of was in fact Peter. Since she knew Petunia hated animals (she barely tolerated Mito because the owl stayed outside most of the time) she decided to leave Surrey early.

"Petunia, would you mind terribly if I spent the rest of summer with a friend of mine? Having a guest like Marge is a terrible strain on you," said Kushina.

Petunia beamed at the girl. Kushina had manners that were very rare this day and age. She had rather grown to like the girl, mostly because they shared a similar hate of Dumbledore. Like the old saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

* * *

Once Selene sent the port key for her, Kushina and Sirius vanished and reappeared near the Lovegood home where Micheal was waiting.

"So Sirius Black might not be a criminal after all. After learning he never had a trial, that might very well be possible," said Xeno.

Xenophilius and Selene Lovegood were very interesting people. They took the fact that their son was a reincarnated ninja with ease, and the fact that his soul mate was the famous Kaori Potter was nothing to them. You had to be open minded when you had Faerie blood from a close relative in you. Like say your grandparents?

Kushina rather liked the odd man and chatted to him about the Deathly Hallows. He was better informed than most about the legends, and had a reasonable idea of what they looked like today.

He seemed very excited to find out that Kushina not only had one of the Hallows with her, but was in close contact with the same God of Death that created them in the first place!

Shinigami-sama spent a rather interesting day talking to a man who wasn't scared of him in the least. If anything Xeno was fascinated.

Sirius spent a rather rough night with the girls giving him a much needed bath and trim. Selene was open minded about the idea of him being innocent, not about him bringing who knows what into the house because he hadn't had a proper bath in twelve years. Kushina topped it all off with a bright red bow, to the amusement of Minato.

When Kushina's birthday came around, she had been surprised with a rather large party. Even Sirius was allowed to return to human form for a day. Though he didn't know he was under the careful eyes of Minato and Kushina the whole time.

They topped it all off with a shopping trip down a little known wizarding alley. It was one that Molly frequented to save on the floo powder.

The Weaslys were currently in Egypt, and having a blast. Hermione was in France, and Neville was working on his new greenhouse that Augusta had bought him for passing the test Poppy gave for those who wanted to work as assistants in the Hospital Wing.

(As a prize, Minato showed Neville how to sign his name on the contract, and planned to teach him summoning this year.)

Everything was going great...until Xeno learned from a friend that Fudge was placing dementors around the school because of Sirius Black.

The dog whined quite loudly when he heard that news. Fortunately Xeno did in fact know the charm to get rid of the fell beasts, which he taught to all three children as a precaution.

Minato was the first to get it right, followed by Kushina and Luna. Though Kushina wasn't surprised in the least to learn her spirit animal was the same fox that nearly killed her.

Minato's was Gamabunta, and Luna had an odd creature known as a platypus. (GO PERRY!)

* * *

"Monster book of Monsters? How cute!" said Kushina.

The 'books' when they were exposed to her, became as tame as a cat. Apparently, despite being books, they were still sentient enough to recognized a dangerous predator when they saw one. It took Minato a few minutes to start stroking the spine of his, and he accidentally discovered that doing so caused them to open up like a normal book without biting your fingers for it.

The bookstore owner was so happy to find that fact out that he gave them all a 20 percent discount on any purchase they made that day. Kushina's eyes gleamed as she did a major power shop there. The man didn't even cry at the fact that she had bought over a thousand galleons worth of books for only 800.

Sirius watched her shop, and noted where her interests lay. So far the only thing he knew of his goddaughter was the fact that she loved to read, and had a real penchant for well made weapons.

Which gave him an idea. He barked at Xeno and the two vanished into the crowd for a bit. Two hours later Sirius returned with a two large parcels in his mouth with a small card in messy handwriting.

Kushina accepted it, and since she didn't feel anything off about it looked at the card.

"_Consider this 12 years worth of missed birthdays."_

Since they were at the ice cream shop, Kushina opened the smaller package first.

Inside was a shrunken set of rare tomes, most of which had long since been banned by the Ministry. The second one had several well made weapons of various types. There were three swords (one of which was goblin made), four daggers (two jeweled and one goblin made with a poison inside it) and a rather large bow complete with self refilling quiver. Kushina could tell that if it was enlarged it would easily reach half her impressive 5 foot height.

She looked at the dog and said "Thanks!"

Sirius would later watch with interest as the girl practiced with most of the weapons, namely the bow. It wasn't a weapon used very often by shinobi, but it was often under-appreciated by them anyway.

* * *

Kushina ran onto the platform, with Sirius on her heels. He had been regaining lost weight since she captured him, and his fur was looking much better. Dumbledore had allowed him to come into the dorms on the grounds that a large dog could protect her from Black.

Oh the irony.

Kushina looked up and down the train, and the only spot left was one near the new Defense teacher.

"Think he'll last longer than the previous two?" asked Minato. He helped Luna put her trunk up while Kushina sat down. She sniffed, and frowned.

"He smells like a wolf. Either he lives with one, works frequently with one, or he's a werewolf."

The man stirred slightly but went back to sleep. He wasn't fooling anyone, because at the word 'werewolf' he had woken up with a start.

"I'm guessing werewolf then," said Minato.

"So long as he doesn't attack the students like the last two, I won't have any issues with him. Which book did he assign again?"

Minato thought it over and told her.

"Well at least he has _some_ common sense. That book is decent enough for all seven years," said Kushina.

Minato looked at the man with some amusement and said "You aren't fooling anyone, Professor. You may as well contribute to the conversation."

"What gave me away?" he asked.

"Your breathing patterns. Your breath hitched slightly when we mentioned the condition, and the fact that it was uneven told us you were awake and well aware of what was being said."

Remus nodded...then noticed the dog and frowned.

"Black is under my protection. He claims that someone else blew up that street and betrayed the Potters, and since we look 'underneath the underneath' back home, we decided to give him the benefit of a doubt. Should he prove a liar and a traitor, the consequences will not be pleasant for him," said Kushina.

Sirius whined, but did nothing.

"So Professor, how much experience do you have with dealing with the Dark Arts?" asked Minato.

Remus said nothing about the change in subject, but went along with it anyway.

"Because of my...furry problem...I have a lot of experience dealing with the dark arts. Namely other dark creatures. We'll mostly be focusing on them this year," said Remus.

"So you are a werewolf? How do you deal with the condition?"

"I lock myself up on full moons to keep others from being afflicted by me. I used to have friends who would keep me company, but they are mostly gone," said Remus.

"You mean like Sirius Black? What will you do if this overgrown mutt proves to be innocent as he claims?"

"Sirius, if you are in fact innocent and Peter is the culprit, I can only ask for your apology. It's been hard not having people around that understand and accept my problem."

Sirius chuffed. If he could prove his innocent, then the fact Remus had thought him a traitor would be water under the bridge as it were. He missed the old wolf too.

"So just to be clear, you don't intend to attack or otherwise harm the students in any way shape or form?" said Kushina.

Remus nodded, unsure why she would ask. He would have thought she'd be wary of being so close to a werewolf.

"Good. Then you might actually _last_ the year, unlike the last two."

"Last two...?" he said faintly.

"Kushina found out that the first one let a troll in the castle, and he ended up running into her in an abandoned room with a cereberus. He's presumed missing or dead. Our last one was a damn pedophile, and she dropped him in the Lake and let the squid eat him for hurting two students. He also attempted to endanger or kill two first year girls by allowing them to remain in the Chamber of Secrets with a basilisk and Dark Artifact."

Sirius and Remus stared at Kushina.

"I ripped the previous one apart and let the squid eat the second. I don't like seeing children hurt when they are supposed to be safe in a school," she said angrily.

The two stared at her in shock.

"I assure you, Ms. Uzumaki, that I have absolutely no intention of harming any of the students. I am currently taking a potion that calms my inner wolf down so it won't accidentally hurt or kill a student if they happen to be in the wrong area," said Remus with a gulp.

Kushina smiled at him, and both Marauders looked at her in fear.


	12. Chapter 12

Kushina had dozed off at some point, and Minato had put a spare robe over her. Remus and Sirius were at least at a truce until the truth could be proven...which meant that Remus wouldn't out Sirius unless he had been proven guilty.

In which case Dementors would be the _least_ of his problems.

Suddenly the train jerked, and the door slid open. Kushina's genin team were in another two compartments. Draco was with Crabbe and Goyle, mostly because he didn't want his pure blood reputation to take any more hits. Neville and Hermione were with the twins. Minato went to close the door...when he felt a sudden chill.

Kushina was awoken by memories of when the Kyuubi had attacked the village.

"You have got to be kidding. Are those _things_ outside the train?!" she said sourly.

"Dementors...!" said Remus in surprise.

"Minato, you take front, I'll take back. Luna, you stay put with Professor Lupin and Black. If the dog makes any funny moves..." Kushina left the threat hanging.

Sirius had been beyond shocked when he saw Luna practicing with her brother. He had no doubt in his mind that she could take him and win.

Twin shouts of 'Expecto Patronum!' were heard as two massive patronus charms were cast.

The dementors, when they sensed such positive force, fled the area immediately. Only a few had gotten on the train, and they had almost reached the compartments.

The two made rounds of each compartment. Remus had told them chocolate got rid of the effects Dementor exposure caused, so they were distributing chocolate frogs all down the train, and with no room for argument told each student to eat it.

By the time the train had started again, Remus was seriously considering having the two act as assistants instead of being students. They handled themselves better than most children their age.

When he brought it up later with McGonagall and Flitwick, the two said it was allowed, but didn't happen often. The next morning Lupin brought it up with them and they agreed.

At the very least it gave them some time to work on the Defense Club/Class. Despite the fact that it was only created to make up for the lack of quality teaching, Remus was more than happy to keep it going.

* * *

Kushina leaned against the wall with Minato as Remus told the students that the day would have a practical lesson. Remus had told them about the boggart in the staff room.

"Let's see... Why don't we have Mr. Longbottom demonstrate for us?" said Remus.

He opened the cabinet...and out stepped Kushina, with her hair doing the nine way split speaking in her 'sweet' tone which meant she was up to something absolutely humiliating. Several people in the back shivered in unison with Neville.

"OI! How the hell am _I _ your greatest fear?!" yelled Kushina from the side.

Minato wisely said nothing, but he was trying his best not to laugh.

"_Riddikulus!"_ shouted Neville.

Kushina was quickly replaced by a tiny red toad. Her indignant squawk caused Minato to fall over laughing his ass off. In her rage, she pushed him towards the thing.

Suddenly the toad became a tall blond with handsome blue eyes wearing a white coat with flames. He was behind a desk...and someone kept bringing larger and larger barrels full of paperwork and piled it all around the desk. The tall man started crying anime tears, and looked like he was hoping for another Kyuubi attack just to escape the desk. On the side of his chair was a conical hat with the kanji for 'Fire' on it in white against crimson red.

Kushina took a picture and started laughing at him.

Minato looked absolutely horrified that that was his greatest fear. Not some nameless enemy nin, not some bijuu...but being stuck behind the Hokage's desk unable to use the shadow clone jutsu dealing with literal mountains of paperwork.

He took out his wand and said _"Riddikulus!"_

A very cheerful Kushina appeared and burned the paperwork, before dragging him to Ichiraku Ramen for lunch.

"Dude... Your greatest fear is to grow up and do paperwork?" said Ron in disbelief.

"Paperwork demons...they multiply like rabbits and they refuse to let you go!" Minato shuddered violently.

(Elsewhere in the Elemental Countries...)

In unison, all five Kages and multiple jounins all over the Elemental Countries shivered in unison as someone mentioned the very demon they were currently facing an epic battle against. Sadly they never figured out how to defeat this great and fearsome foe...

(Back at Hogwarts...)

"Well since my _assistants_ seem so eager to join this lesson, Kushina, would you like a turn?"

She bounded up...and her boggart appeared. It wasn't her country burning, or her son being killed.

It was a massive fox easily bigger than the room with nine tails waving behind it. It sneered at her, and snapped it's massive jaws. Kushina looked irritable more than anything.

"Seriously? That was the best you could come up with out of all of the fears I could have had? I'm not afraid of _him_!" she said annoyed.

Her chakra chains whipped and caused the fox to bow before her. She didn't need her wand for this. The fox slowly grew smaller and smaller until she took out her wand and said "_Riddikulus."_

A cage slammed down around the fox, sealing away with a single tag. The fox was still bigger than Hagrid was easily, but it wasn't nearly as scary behind the cage.

"Ms. Uzumaki...what exactly _was_ that?" said Remus.

"Kyuubi no Yoko. The Nine Tailed Fox. Out of all the things the boggart could have chose, that was one of the few things I don't fear."

Kushina knew full well the only way to temper the fox's boundless rage and hate was with love. Her chakra chains, one of the very unusual manifestations of the Uzumaki clan ability, was the reason why she could claim to be an Uzumaki in everything but blood. She had been adopted by the clan, and as far as anyone else was concerned, she was an Uzumaki. Not a Potter, which was only her name because of who her father was. It was the reason why she had changed the name legally with the goblins to Uzumaki.

Dumbledore had found that fact out the hard way, when he went to do his yearly withdrawal of the family vaults. The goblins had taken the chance to reclaim all the keys, since they had to reissue them to the name Uzumaki anyway.

Kushina was immediately alerted to the fact the old man had been stealing from her for ten years, and had reclaimed everything.

One by one, the other student took their turns.

Remus called the class a success.

Minato cursed the boggart and the nightmare it would inspire for the next week and a half.

Kushina put Neville in a playful headlock and wanted to know why _she_ was his greatest fear.

* * *

"So, first Hogsmeade visit in a week. Did you get that thing signed?" asked Minato.

Kushina brandished the form. Petunia had signed it for her in exchange for a rare plant from Konoha that she could lord over the neighbors. Kushina had given her a rather common flower in Konoha, one that thrived in all sorts of climates, even the ones that were so frequent in Surrey.

It was a flower no one had been able to see before, and it wouldn't dominate the yard like some of the aggressive breeds.

Petunia had been very proud of the jealous looks on her friend's faces. Vernon had been happy with the alcohol that Kushina had given him as payment for allowing her to stay in his house. It was an expensive brand that one had to pay 500 pounds for the bottle alone.

Dudley was just happy that his scary cousin had left early. Kushina had it in her mind that he needed to be whipped into shape, and she had him running laps around the neighborhood at five in the morning. On the plus side, he had lost thirty pounds and was currently planning to join the school boxing team. On the downside, Kushina was ruthless.

"Any requests?" she asked Minato.

"...More frogs. I love those things!"

"You and your amphibians..." she said with fond amusement.

Minato was the only student in the school that loved the frogs simply because they were frog shaped. He often gave away his cards to other students.

Remus was currently trying to do all the homework he had assigned, with Minato and his Shadow Clone force helping out as necessary. It was for that reason alone that Remus was the only teacher in the school not complaining about assigning homework. Despite the fact that he was also helping Kushina keep up the Defense club and grading _those_ assigned papers along with his own.

Remus was a bookworm, and he still knew the Hogwarts library like the back of his hand. So he often helped in assigning books for the students to read and write a report about.

Despite an attempted intervention by the Headmaster (who was apparently very clueless as to how his previous Defense teachers had been taken out, despite Snape's not so subtle hints) Kushina managed to make it past the dementors and headed to the village with Hermione. She didn't like the things, and the feeling was mutual.

Every time she passed by one the Kyuubi inside her reared up as if struck by something. From what Remus had told her the things feed on positive emotions, leaving only the worst memories to the victim.

So why did the Kyuubi dislike those things?

* * *

Kushina visited all sorts of places, but the ones she hit hardest were the bookstore and the candy shop. Zonko's didn't really interest her, since her pranks were much more fun to watch and used different items.

Kushina was very pleased when she found some decent fiction novels in the small bookshop. She bought doubles and had a translation charm placed on some so Naruto would learn to love reading as much as she did.

As she hit various stores, she noted with interest some out of the way shops that no one else seemed to care for. She often walked out with a massive grin as she discovered odd but highly useful things. Plus plenty of gifts for Naruto to enjoy.

Naruto had recently been told by the Hokage about his parents...and it hadn't taken him long to put two and two together about Kushina. Kushina had to write the letter explaining _why_ she couldn't return for a few years.

At least she could pin the blame solely on the God of Death giving her an important mission. As far as the council was concerned, Kushina had been taken during the Kyuubi attack and recently woke up two years ago. She had then been given an S class mission which she couldn't refuse and was stuck on the other side of the world for the next four years.

It really sucked being in a minor's body, and some civilians around here saw through her realistic henge. The main reason being her lack of height. If it wasn't for her mission and apparent age, Kushina would have returned to Konoha in a heartbeat just to be with her son.

As it was, the only real things keeping her back at the moment were her genin team, the mission (she had an impressive completion record and had never failed one yet), and her current status as a 13 year old girl. But one of the biggest reasons was this.

Shinigami-sama told her bluntly that if she tried to bail out on the mission before she had found all three items and returned them, he would retake Minato's soul back...and he would never be reincarnated. That was more than enough reason to stay in England despite how much she hated it.

* * *

_**In Konoha, with Naruto...**_

Naruto eagerly awaited the white owl that his mother sent every other week. After the Hokage finally told him where his parents really were, Naruto's happy disposition had changed slightly.

He was no longer alone in the world. He had parents that loved him. So what if they were on a long term mission? They still wrote him at least twice a month. Even if his dad would only go by Minnie the Mighty...a nickname his mother had apparently given him.

(One that had the Hokage choking back laughter.)

Now Naruto could proudly walk down the street saying he had parents that loved him and didn't think he was a demon. The odd dreams he had of a red haired woman (who was in fact his mother, which he figured out on his own after Sarutobi showed him a picture of the woman) had only made the fact that his parents loved him more real.

It certainly got rid of the pain he felt whenever the other kids teased him about not having parents. Plus there were the gifts that his mom kept sending him. Mostly it was books (which to the pleasure of Iruka caused him to learn to love reading) and a few odd items.

Like the large frog doll that he now slept on instead of his lumpy bed. The mouth would open up revealing a nice comfy sleeping bag that he snuggled in. Plus, when Kushina was told of his problems getting food _other_ than instant ramen, the woman started to send food he could eat.

(These deliveries were sent via storage scroll, where the food couldn't get ruined through the different climates.)

It was through his mother that he came into contact with Anko Mitarashi, a woman most people avoided if possible. Well, except for the owners of all the best dango stands.

Anko rather liked the kid, once she got to know him. Even if his mother did bribe her with the biggest damn snake outside the Forest of Death, complete with sealed Mystic Eyes and the deadliest venom she had ever encountered with no antidote.

As a result, the looks and glares towards the kid started to drop. Mostly because now he had someone watching out for him since his parents weren't around. The Hokage had told the council that Naruto's parents weren't dead, but they had been assigned a long term S class mission that was classified. That alone shut up some of the plans that Danzo had for the boy.

If his parents were in fact alive and on an S class mission, they had to be jounin level at the very least. And with parents, the Hokage heard a decrease in the number of civilian complaints.

A demon container with parents meant that they could charge a large price tag to the adults. The Hokage, however, did something else with them whenever he got the ridiculous bills for something other than Naruto just existing.

He gave them to the Uchiha kids who just learned the fireball technique to practice on. Needless to say the children had great fun burning things with the Hokage's permission.


	13. Chapter 13

Kushina was staring down a certain red haired pest. In her hand were cards...cards that were quickly becoming a rare royal flush. Ron, from what she could tell, was the worst damn poker player she had ever seen. He was like an open book to anyone who could tell the twitches he gave off. Though to be fair, he was up against a woman with the weirdest case of luck imaginable.

Minato had always marveled at the fact that Kushina, if taken to a casino, always walked out with more cash than she had going in. she could literally go in with only fifty ryou in hand, and walk out a millionaire. And she always took great offense if accused of cheating. Though even shinobi guards never caught her at cheating.

She never needed to. She could have the most bizarre missions imaginable (3 out of 5 missions got bumped up a rank whenever she was on them) yet her ability to win at games of luck was downright scary.

Tsunade had once accused her of having a strange 'luck' based kekkei genkai. Then she checked to see if the girl did have a kekkei genkai.

To this day she still couldn't prove whether or not the girl had that strange ability.

"I raise a hundred," said Kushina.

Ron sweated. He didn't have a hundred and his mother would murder him if she found out.

Kushina smirked. And looked completely innocent as she said "If you can't bet your coin, we can always place something else on the table. Like say...pets?"

Ron, who was not the best thinker outside of chess for some reason, jumped on that little chance he had to win over a thousand galleons. Most of the other players had bowed out after she beat them enough to win their pocket change.

"Fine! I bet Scabbers!" said Ron.

"Alright then. Lay your rat in the cage on the table, and then show your hand," said Kushina.

Ron placed the cage with the still sleeping rat in it (he had fallen asleep halfway through) and then showed his hand.

He had three kings and two queens.

Kushina smirked evilly as she lay down her cards. All around the table the other players cursed loudly. She had just laid out a royal flush of Hearts.

"Looks like I win again. Anyone up for another round?"

"To hell with this! I ain't playing against you again!" said one third year.

"You're a bloody card shark!" said a fourth year from Ravenclaw.

"I would, but I'm all out of coin," said Ron sourly.

"Well gents, I bid you a good night. If you have anyone who's annoyed you and deserves to have their ass handed to them via poker, let me know when and where. Until then~!" said Kushina whistling on her way back to the classroom.

"That girl is damn scary," said the third year.

"True, but at least she likes anyone under 18 well enough not to rob us completely blind," said the Ravenclaw.

"True dat," said the third year sagely.

* * *

"I have the rat, and Ron won't be after him for a while unless he can scrounge up some coin in the next week," said Kushina.

"How the hell did you get him so easily?!" said Sirius.

She looked at him with clear amusement in her jade eyes and said only three words.

"High Stakes Poker," she said.

"Ah...carry on then," said Sirius sagely. He had been known to sucker a few fools into a game or two, and it was more or less responsible for why he had survived without the family bank account to fall back on.

The moment Remus say the rat, his eyes grew cold as ice. Kushina likened it to the way an Uchiha looked whenever someone did something that really annoyed them. Or when they were really pissed and they couldn't unleash their Sharingan.

"Padfoot, I take back anything I ever said about you being a traitor," said Remus.

Padfoot looked at Moony with a grin.

"Consider us square, Moony," said Sirius.

"So I take it this is in fact Pettigrew?" she said calmly.

"That's Wormtail. I'd recognize that fat form of his anywhere," Remus confirmed.

"So the idea that Sirius Black is innocent is no longer up for debate?" she continued.

"None whatsoever. Peter wouldn't hide if he didn't have a damn good reason. And framing someone who would have died to protect you is one of them," said Remus.

"Good. Is there a spell to reverse his transformation? I would like to have a...talk...with this traitor," said Kushina. Her KI was starting to leak out and her hair was in the beginning stages of the by now infamous nine way split.

Kushina insured the traitor wouldn't be moving with a seal field, which created a cage of chakra. The only way to break it was if they removed the seals from outside. Remus removed the spell, and Kushina's face looked at the rat faced man with some disgust.

"You do realize that things can go in but not out, right?" she said to them.

Sirius' eyes looked positively evil, until Kushina stopped him.

"How would you like to see the traitor get _exactly_ what he deserves? Complete with pictures?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Oh, just a little something I picked up when I was bored and working with a certain snake mistress back home," said Kushina brightly.

(In Konoha)

Anko sneezed three times.

"Aw, someone's talking about me!" she chirped cheerfully, before she put another needle in the spy's arm. The man screamed and Anko began humming a raunchy little song. All was right in Anko-land.

(In Hogwarts)

Sirius watched in awe as Kushina's double cheerfully put what appeared to be acupuncture needles in specific points in the traitor's body. Peter screamed like the damned each time, indicating that they were extremely painful points.

"Where do you learn this kind of stuff?"

"ANBU's Interrogation Unit. Had a friend named Anko who loved sharing her favorite methods of torture with me over dango. Girl was like my little sister," said Kushina fondly.

Remus had cast several silencing charms, but even he was beginning to doubt how well they would hold with the racket Peter was making.

Eventually she stopped, though not until Peter had lost control of his bladder multiple times. Remus didn't look ill at the sight of his former friend. And he pretended not to notice Sirius taking notes. Kushina's clone looked at the second one she made, which had been taking notes like there was no tomorrow.

Peter Pettigrew was now a man broken in body, mind and spirit, and from that night on whenever he saw red hair he would break down crying.

If you wanted information from him, merely show him a picture of Kushina and he would break like glass.

Sirius found that rather entertaining to watch, to be honest.

"So...what do we do with this pile of..." said Kushina.

"I would say Dumbledore, but after what you told me about the last two Defense teachers I wouldn't trust him with a broken wand," said Remus.

"Snape," said Sirius immediately.

The sour man had been irritated beyond belief that Kushina had not only found one of the men responsible for his hellish school years, but had granted him sanctuary just to prove his innocence.

It wasn't until Sirius told Snape exactly what he would like to do to Dumbledore for leaving him in that hell hole without a trial that the men at least reached a mutual understanding. Neither of them pretended to notice Kushina's cackling as she wrote down some of the suggestions.

(Coincidentally most of what she did to Peter was from that same book. If asked she would claim that she was getting back into practice for the old goat.)

Severus Snape was not what you would call a pleasant man. Because of his unique position as a double spy for both sides, he had developed a sense for trouble.

And Kushina, at the moment, was making those senses go completely berserk. She had completely broken a traitor to the point that he was a liability, and she didn't seemed bothered one bit by the methods!

_Thank the spirits she seems to like me..._ thought Snape as he looked at Pettigrew.

"So why did you bring him here?"

"You're the only sane adult who knows about Sirius and is good enough to insure that this piece of filth gets placed where he deserves," said Kushina.

Snape knew about her issues with traitors. Frankly he could care less, because the girl had reasons to hate them.

"Right...Mind waiting here until I dispose of this properly?"

"Make sure the goblins know that he is now terrified of me when you drop him off. Should give the Aurors something work with," said Kushina with a smirk.

* * *

Two days later the papers declared Sirius Black innocent and Pettigrew sent to Azkaban for betraying the Potters. What no one knew outside a small group was that all the Aurors had to do to get the traitor to talk was show a current picture of Kushina to the man.

It left more than one Auror wondering what the girl had done to make a grown man piss himself in public.

Kushina was disgusted and beyond pissed that the dementors had not been removed with Sirius being proven innocent of all charges of anything other than being a flirt.

Despite the fact that he was still being treated for Dementor exposure (and living in Remus' apartment for the moment) Sirius was still looked at like he was as Dark as his family name.

And it annoyed Kushina to no end. Which was why, during Christmas when she had her yearly letter to home (meaning she got to talk to her son through the shared link of the fox...and ended up learning why Kyuubi hated dementors with a passion) that she had an idea.

If Sirius was having trouble in England, then how would he fare in Konoha while looking after their son for them? She knew that Naruto and Sirius would get along like an Uchiha with a pyromaniac friend.

Plus there was the fact that she wanted to hook the man up with Anko. Sirius had no issues with snakes, at least not when he learned she could snake speak. The fact that he had become slightly unhinged over the years because of the foul creatures didn't hurt either, since Anko wasn't exactly a good example of stability. Plus she might be able to teach him a thing or two about torture.

Kami knows going to that division for a year had helped her vent her issues when it came to traitors. Hell, that was one of the reasons why she had befriended Anko in the first place!

Once Sirius had been cleared by the healers, Kushina broached the subject with him while he was visiting Hogsmeade.

Finding out your goddaughter was a woman over 30 stuck in a 13 year old girl's body was a real eye opener. Then she hit him with news that really made him gape, throw down another fire whiskey...and then pass out when he realized she wasn't joking.

There was a Prongs the third running around!

Naturally Sirius wanted to meet his pseudo grandson, which was Kushina's intention. Minato certainly didn't mind the man, who at least had a reasonable excuse for not being there for her. Being sent to a living hell on earth without anyone hearing your side of the story was one of the few excuses the two would accept for shirking duty.

Peeping on women and writing third rate porno was not one of them.

Once Remus' year of teaching was over (if he hadn't been outed as a werewolf before then) he was really considering joining him. Kushina had cackled when she heard that, already considering ways of hooking the werewolf with the one clan that could help him control his inner wolf.

At the very least Tsume would have a boyfriend who wasn't intimidated by Kuromaru or her Inuzuka traits!

* * *

(In Konoha)

Naruto was out challenging Anko to a dango contest, to the delight of the shops she frequented, when they got an odd request from the Red Hot-Blooded Habenaro...AKA Kushina Uzumaki.

Naruto had been told to refer to his mother by her BINGO book nickname to avoid people bothering him about her. It had the double effect of getting some of the glares to drop, since quite a few people remembered her.

Anko frowned, but went to meet this man that Kushina had sent their way. Naruto went with her because the villagers left him alone whenever she was within range of him.

His mom knew the most interesting people.

"So your name is Black Sirius," said Anko.

"Yup, or you could call me by my nickname Padfoot," said the man with a lazy grin.

"Why Padfoot?" asked the impressionable nine year old.

Sirius looked down and spotted the kid. He grinned and messed up the boy's spiky hair.

"Because of this," said Sirius, and he transformed right in front of the kid. Naruto blinked then giggled when he licked him in the face.

"Nice trick," said Anko.

Sirius turned back with a grin.

"Kushina asked me to come over here and watch Naruto, since she can't do it because of her mission. Since I can turn into a dog, I can play the part of a nin animal and follow him in places you can't, like the Academy."

"I thought you were a civilian?" said the Hokage.

"I am, but that bit was actually mentioned by this runt's dad. Which reminds me...Minnie the Mighty had something I was supposed to tell you."

"Minnie the Mighty?" said Anko.

"Kushina's nickname for her husband," said Sarutobi. It was either that or tell Naruto that his father had sealed a demon in him. Frankly he felt the nickname was much easier to deal with.

Sirius told the Hokage his message, and he could see the grin widen on his face.

"So he'll retake the position? Thank Kami-sama!"

Anko dragged Sirius and Naruto to the nearby ramen stand, and Naruto quickly showed his appetite. It was the deal between her and the brat.

If she took him out to dango, then she would take him out for ramen later. To be fair though, she had a thing for ramen as well, just not as much as Naruto did.

Sirius handled the chopsticks clumsily, but he was passable. Soon he was bantering with Naruto about pranks he played on others. Sirius' eyes gleamed as he mentioned a list that Kushina had given him before he left, with the explicit orders to make their life hell...and to tell them that what he did to them was only the beginning of what _she_ would do to them when she returned.

Anko's eyes gleamed with interest, and some of their plans had her cackling with evil glee, which Sirius soon joined. He ended up telling why he had taken so long to learn of Kushina and come to Konoha, and during that time Anko found she had gotten a new friend...one who knew very well what it was like to be betrayed by someone you thought you could trust.

Once Sirius had Naruto snuggled in for the night, he placed enough charms and seals on the kid for him to be able to sleep undisturbed.

He spent the rest of the night drinking with Anko, getting know her better. She laughed when she learned that Kushina had been the one talking about her when she was torturing someone that had gotten caught for spying a month ago.

And with that, Sirius started living with his grandson...as his nin dog. No one really questioned his presence in classes because he would roll over and lay down, and while he was big he was also loveable.

Something Naruto made a point to say out loud about Chouji, to his embarrassment...even if some of the other more timid girls started looking at him with interest.


	14. Chapter 14

Kushina cackled with glee as she read the ongoing hit and miss dates of Sirius and Anko. Sarutobi took great pleasure in telling her about them...and telling her that if she were to appear at that moment that he would shovel all his paperwork on her in a heartbeat and run away screaming "I'M FREE! THANK KAMI-SAMA I'M FREE!"

The moment Minato read that bit he laughed, hard. He was saving up telling Sarutobi about using shadow clones during his tenure as Hokage (which would resume the second he stepped foot back in Konoha) for when they did a letter to home through the Shinigami-sama's powers.

Shinigami, when he heard that plan, cackled and promised to have video recorders and a camera with plenty of film ready.

Despite the fact that Sirius Black had been proven innocent, the dementors had yet to be removed.

Draco informed a raging Kushina as to _why_ that was.

Apparently Lucius had decided to use her comment about the wards being bad around Hogwarts to keep them there for the year at least. Draco told her in no uncertain terms that he was still very pissed that he had gotten shown up by a 12 year old, and this was his way of revenge.

It was petty, and it annoyed the living hell out of Kushina, but it was still a viable form of revenge in a Slytherin's perspective.

However that didn't mean Kushina had a handle on the dementors. Every time she spotted one making their way to a group of emotional students, she cast the patronus charm. The sight of a massive nine tailed fox demon had become a common sight at Hogwarts, and every time it appeared, the foul beast fled for hours. If Minato used Gamabunta with her fox, then they fled for days at a time.

The students and teachers all tended to relax during the hours that they were gone. The sooner the school year ended, Kushina was going to see Augusta to insure that they never came back.

She had already started a petition among the heirs of several prominent families to keep them far away from the school...under the threat of getting Fudge kicked out of office. If nothing else that would force him to take notice that Kushina would not mess around with the safety of children.

Kushina was beyond pissed at this point. The dementors just wouldn't give up! She threw a chakra charged shuriken and one and blinked when the thing shrieked in pain. A slow, terrifying grin appeared on her face.

_So these things don't like chakra do they? Oh this will make things much more fun!_

* * *

The next morning found three yawning third years and one half awake second year with a large amount of sharp pointy objects next to them. Kushina hadn't told Minato what she was going to teach them today, but she had mentioned it would prove great stress relief.

It all started when the dementors started to approach her, sensing the rage inside of her courtesy of a certain furball.

Kushina threw the first goblin made shuriken at the dementor, and the moment the first one shrieked, Minato caught on to the idea.

"Looks like today's lesson is target practice on moving objects," he said with a blink.

"How do goblin made weapons hurt dementors?" asked Draco, the first to catch on.

"They don't. But you guys are still learning to channel chakra and nothing gets the blood pumping and lessons to stick better than practical lessons. The idea is to charge your chakra into the weapons before you throw them, while aiming at any dementor you want."

Suddenly the four magicals were much more awake and grinning. This was the first time they had been told to go all out with weapons. Hell it was the first time they were allowed to throw at anything other than training dummies!

Soon the dementors were screaming in pain and some were taking shelter behind trees.

Kushina noted the other students watching with interest, and Snape convinced the other teachers to call a free day so they could watch the show. Spirits know they wouldn't be able to do anything with all the racket the dementors were making at the moment.

It didn't take long for Kushina to show the students how to charge magic into the weapons, which were summoned back by some clever fourth years.

All in all, it turned out to be a more productive day for the school in more ways that one.

First, the dementors were officially labeled target practice by all students. Second, Kushina and Minato's genin were now much, much better at throwing their weapons at moving objects than they were before. Draco had proven to be a natural, and had seeker's reflexes...which meant a day later Snape had him on the house team. And now the younger students were much better at charging magic into their wands. Kushina and Minato had given them the same wooden practice weapons that they had given the genin when they first started.

(Wooden weapons also doubled as teething toys for infants, not that they would ever tell anyone about that.)

Ever so slowly, the year began to end.

* * *

Kushina was helping Remus with grading papers when Snape came in with a rather sour look.

"Someone has blabbed about your condition, which is highly unusual because I know for a fact none of my Slytherins knew."

"I told some of the Lions, but they love your class as much as they love Hagrid and they would never try to get rid of you. Micheal mentioned it to the Puffs, but you know how they are about loyalty to ones friends," said Kushina.

Remus winced. Though she did have a point. If anyone could look past his condition it was the Puffs. Loyalty to their friends was something they took very seriously, no matter what issues they had.

The Ravenclaws had already figured it out two months after he started to teach them. Some had even come up to him asking what issues he had to face in interest.

Remus was quite surprised when he learned that the students had begun to gauge how well the teacher would do by how much Kushina liked them.

**Quirrel-** Disliked and went missing near the end of the year.

**Lockhart-** Despised and eaten by squid near the end of year.

**Remus-** Liked and helped during lessons. Grades skyrocket to top

If Kushina liked you, then chances were high that you were a great teacher and would last the entire year. If she didn't like you, it meant you weren't able to teach and she would drive you out early.

Remus found the fact that they gauged teachers through Kushina rather amusing...as did she when he mentioned it to her.

She then told the students who had said it that telling if a teacher was worth their time or not through her was a sound strategy. As one who had been in life or death battles most of her life, she had a knack for telling who knew what they were talking about and who didn't. By extension, she tended to get along better with those types of people. People like Lockhart and Quirrel just pissed her off because they talked through books and not experience.

* * *

They were angry. When the red one had pushed them away, they were annoyed, but they could wait to eat her. She was one of the cursed ones, and she bore the strongest of the beasts. Then she started to keep them from leeching off the emotions of the younglings to sustain themselves. That had irritated them somewhat, but they had patience.

But then she showed the little ones how to fight back, using pure magic channeling. And that pissed them off. And the four little ones were doing even more damage than their peers. They would have to be taken out as well as the Red and Yellow ones.

Unlike the old one in the castle, they could sense the true nature of the Red and Yellow ones. They were in the service of the Old God, the one who had created them by accident one day when he was drunk, depressed and bored.

Afterwords he wanted _nothing_ to do with such abominations and as such, they hated anyone who served the creator.

So when the school year was coming to a close...they took their chance and went on the attack. The Red and Yellow ones would die this night, or they would.

* * *

The students relaxed because the end of year exams were over...until they realized with horror that the dementors were closing in on the school and not stopping.

Kushina was outside before people could blink, and she unleashed her patronus. It stopped the dementors long enough for the teachers to arrive and start casting their own.

But they would not be forced back. They wanted to feed, and damn the consequences.

Kushina saw she had no other option. She would have to unleash something that she rarely let loose just to kill the damn things.

"Minato! Cover for me while I bring out the big boys!" she yelled.

Minato cast his Gamabunta patronus, who started throwing the beasts into the forest with it's large webbed hands. It didn't do much other than push them back further, but it bought Kushina the time she needed.

Her hands flew through the signs faster than most could keep up with them.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Kushina had a summoning contract. She just never used it as often as Minato did. However in this particular situation, the Kyuubi's power would be a hindrance more than a help.

"**Yo boss! What's the problem? You almost never call us!" **said the Kitsune that was easily the size of Fluffy, Hagrid's pet Cereberus.

"See those things being thrown back by the large Ghost Gamabunta? We need to kill them. They are hurt by chakra and pure magic, so I'm guessing a bit of ethereal fox fire would really get them pissed."

"**So...we get to go all out on creatures we would normally kill on sight anyway? Sounds fun!" **said the other kitsune.

Something bounded up to Kushina. It wanted to fight too, since it's master couldn't.

"Hokage? You say you want to find in Luna's stead? Can you use fox fire?"

The kitsune barked, and one of the summons looked at him and told him quietly how to do it. The tiny kitsune, who had earned it second tail recently nodded in confirmation.

"Alright boys, let's kill these bastards. If one of them gets past the defensive line, then we'll have failed," said Kushina.

"**Yes boss!" **barked the two summons.

The teachers didn't let themselves become distracted when the foxes started slinging massive balls of blue and white fire at the dementors, causing them to scream an unearthly howl. Kushina was taking them out by spamming massive fireballs of blue flame from her mouth.

Minato sidled up to Snape, his patronus keeping the majority of dementors at bay while Kushina killed them.

"There is a very good reason why no one who pisses her off to no end lives to tell the tale. That right there is one of them. Her nine way split of her hair is just one of the most obvious warning signs."

"And the foxes?" asked Snape quietly.

"They are her summon partners, like me and the toads. Because of what she carried for 20 years and then the half she carries now, they allowed her to sign their contract. They like her because she can keep the Oldest of their kind in line without trying to kill him. Well, that and they both share a penchant for pranks."

"What will happen once this battle is over?" asked Snape.

"Kushina will go to the Ministry with several families backing her up to get the wards upgraded, no matter what the old man says. In the process she will insure these things never return as guards. A dragon would be a better watch dog than these foul things."

"Where are the students? I haven't seen a one looking at this battle," said McGonagall.

"Kushina sent her team in each house, and each of them are barricaded in the Chamber of Secrets. There is no way in hell those things will get through those wards, if they manage to get through us. They can keep the others from getting in the way," said Minato.

McGonagall nodded approvingly. Placing them in there insured that the dementors wouldn't harm any of the students, and freed them to keep the foul beasts busy until she killed them.

When the numbers started to dwindle to the twenties, some of the teachers let up on their charms. Minato kept his, but it was only a matter of time before the dementors were all dead.

* * *

Finally, when sunset was beginning to appear, the battle was over. Kushina and her summons were tired, but they were victorious.

She wandered over to Snape, who handed her some water, which she drank greedily.

"What's the report?" she rasped. Her voice sounded like it was about to give out.

"The only causalities are those things. All the students were evacuated to the Chamber the moment you sounded the alarm. Several of the teachers are out of breath, but are otherwise fine. They'll be out of commission for a few days, and that's about it. What about you?"

"Slight chakra exhaustion, and my throat is parched like hell. I'll have to use old ANBU code for a day so it can heal up and I'll be right as rain. Both summons are fine too, from what I can tell."

"**You bet boss! Those things never stood a chance!"**

"**...Is there any chance we could hang out here for a bit? We thought that we lost you as a summoner after your name flashed, and we should really report to the Big Guy about what actually happened,"**said the other.

"Sure sure. Small form only, and don't be surprised if the girls want to hug you for being so damn cute," said Kushina with a wave.

The two kitsune barked in amusement, before turning into their chibi form. They were as small as Hokage now. Hokage was wore out, but he could still fire off a few fireballs with a happy bark.

* * *

A day after the battle Kushina had gotten a hold of the families who signed the petition to keep Dementors off school grounds permanently.

Now instead of going in to demand their permanent removal, they were going in demanding the wards be checked and if need be, replaced. Kushina had felt the wards struggling to keep the dementors at bay during the entire fight, but they couldn't keep up. It was a miracle they hadn't failed completely.

Kushina was going in armed with one of the most vicious reporters she could find by the name of Rita Skeeter. The woman had been delighted for such a juicy scoop dropping in her lap. If Fudge and Dumbledore didn't let them fix the wards properly, then all hell would break loose...and they would be looking for a new Minister.

Fudge took one look at the pissed off Savior, and the people behind her and winced. This would not end well for him.

Kushina started off why they were there and what he had to do if he planned to stay Minister for even one more hour.

"Cornelius Fudge. Before this year began, you signed an agreement with the Headmaster of Hogwarts to allow Dementors from Azkaban to guard the school in the hopes of deterring former Convict Sirius Black. When Black was found innocent of the charges, for which he had never been given trial, you decided _not_ to remove the foul beasts from the school. This was due to prompting by Lucius Malfoy's concerns voiced about the wards in the school."

She cleared her throat. It was still somewhat hoarse because of all the fireballs she shot out yesterday.

Kushina looked at the terrified man in the eye as she lay down the law. He wouldn't be getting out of this, no matter what he tried.

"These same creatures, which are known to suck the soul out of their victims, just yesterday attempted to attack the school _in force_ and kill as many students as possible. Were it not for the combined efforts of the staff and two talented students, you would have a school full of soulless bodies. These noble families have come here today for one purpose. You are to have a team of ward experts examine the barriers of Hogwarts and if necessary replace or renew the wards of the school before the next school year. There will be no debate. You will either fix the wards and restore them to proper strength or we will give a vote of no confidence at the next Ministry hearing in full view of the families on both sides," said Kushina. Her lessons in etiquette had come in handy today.

She wasn't there as Kushina Uzumaki, student of Hogwarts and misplaced jounin of Konoha. No, she was there as Kushina Uzumaki (Kaori Potter), Princess and Heir of the Uzumaki clan of Uzushigakure. She had as much political clout as a daimyo, but she never liked to use it unless she had to.

To top off that image, she had dressed in her most formal Kimono and looked every inch a noblewoman here to do her sworn duty to the lesser people.

Needless to say there was a full page picture of her in the paper the next morning.

Fudge did the only thing he could do in that situation. He buckled under the full power of her jade eyed gaze.


	15. Chapter 15

Kushina yawned as she walked out of the tent. In one week, she had been to Petunia's house and then to the Weasly home. She had kept an eye on Fudge, and true to his word the wards around Hogwarts were being examined by only the best masters of the art available. Most had jumped at the chance to examine such famed wards, and she had spoken to each of them personally. They took her interest with delight, as she had some experience with placing seal based ones around her home.

She wasn't surprised in the least to hear that the wards were so old that they were about to collapse in a few years. More than a few warders had shown definite sorrow at how badly they had degraded.

Dumbledore had tried to fight the warders coming, claiming the wards were as strong as they ever were. But he had been beaten back by the combined force of Kushina and the noble families...especially when it came to light that she had been the one to drive them back.

Now he had to listen to the warder's complaints about the fact that he had never brought the wards to the attention of people who could actually fix them.

So Kushina was now with the Weasly clan, and she finally got to meet the infamous brothers she had heard about.

Bill and Charlie.

Bill watched Kushina with interest. She had opted to sleep outside in a magical tent rather than deal with the crowd inside, and he didn't blame her one bit. Since the summer air was so nice outside at night, Molly had allowed it only if she ate with the family.

Kushina had become fast friends with Bill, especially when he learned she was in fact the noblewoman who had pushed for the wards to be examined.

"You're the infamous woman who barged into the Ministry and forced Fudge to have the school wards checked?!" he had said incredulous.

"You bet your red haired ass I did. Those wards could barely keep the dementors from coming, let alone push them back. I could feel them starting to fail while I dealt with them!" said Kushina irritably.

"...You can feel the wards?"

"Anyone with experience placing high powered warding seals can! It's the only way you would be able to tell if they're working or not!" Kushina snapped.

"Seals? Are you the same person who has been sharing that odd Eastern technique with the goblins? They've been having the research department experiment with them for over a year now," said Bill.

"I gave them a beginners book that I had on me, why?"

Bill's eyes gleamed.

"Think you can show me how to make some of those?"

Kushina grinned, once she saw what he was getting at.

"Sure. Give me a week and let me contact Hermione once I'm finished and I'll get you started."

Of course that week had been for her three month ritual to copy, memorize and burn the book on God Power seals...which the Weasly clan watched with some interest, even if they didn't get any of the seals down in time.

"Why did you burn that book you made?" asked Ron dumbly.

"It's a book that belongs to all true members of my family. Every three months we copy down the book, memorize the contents, then burn it so that it can't get into the wrong hands. I had to memorize every inch of the writing before I was even allowed to copy it, and even then I can't use what is written unless there is no other options."

"But if they're part of your family magic, why do you burn them?"

"These seals can destroy countries if used for those with ill intent. They can seal demons, control monsters, and destroy any power. But they are too valuable for our family to allow to be destroyed, so we copy, memorize and burn the evidence beyond recognition."

Seeing the clueless expression on his face, she tried another approach.

"It's like this. The book I destroyed is like a family grimiore, are you following me?"

Ron and the other Weaslys nodded.

"Its part of our heritage. But some of the 'spells' are too strong for us to allow anyone outside the clan to use. So we have our children memorize the spells and then, to insure that they never forget we have them copy them down, memorize their copies, and destroy them to make sure they never leave the family's hands. This way we can keep our family spells in the family, but they won't get into the wrong hands. Does that make sense?"

Molly and Arthur got the gist. Basically the seals were her family heritage, which she insured was passed onto the next generation, but never outside the family. Some of the older families did something similar.

After that, Bill joined Hermione in the lessons Kushina had in the Sealing Arts.

* * *

"So...we're going to watch Quidditch?" she said slowly. Ron simply couldn't get over the fact that Kushina had no interest in the sport.

"Basically yeah," said Bill.

It seemed Kushina got along best with the older brothers than she did with the two youngest. Even Percy liked her better than Ron did.

Ron, of course, had great difficulty realizing that Kushina had already been claimed the moment she found out Micheal was in fact Minato.

Ever since first year, Ron had been trying to claim her. Dumbledore, while not being pleased about the fact Kushina had insured no one would immediately figure out her last name was originally Potter, had told the youngest Weasly son to try and woo her.

Ron had agreed to it once he saw how beautiful Kushina was in person. The pictures in the books didn't do her justice at all. Her eyes were much clearer than he had ever seen. Her hair was silky and as red as fire. Her body was already in the beginning stages of puberty (something Kushina was well prepared for, since she remembered vividly the year her monthly hell started) so she was developing faster than most of the other girls.

She was smart, powerful, and had a temper most couldn't hope to match. She was also caring, gentle, and kind.

In all, she was the ideal girl for most pure bloods, despite her half blood status.

Then she found Micheal Lovegood, and all his attempts went down the drain.

Micheal was strong, smart, and he was kind to girls. Ron hated him, because he had a lot of things he didn't.

Micheal could date any girl he wanted, and his smile made many of the prettier older girls swoon at the thought of him in a few years.

However he and Kushina had created a marriage contract within months of finding out about each other, and fell into the others pace at an ease most married couples couldn't hope to match. Not even Arthur and Molly could act so casually with each other like Micheal and Kushina did.

It was like the two knew each other for years, and had learned to trust each other with their very lives.

When Kushina turned sixteen and Micheal reached the age a few months later, she would officially be off the market. And that fact maddened Ron to no end. All his attempts to convince her to dump Micheal and write up a contract with him had failed.

He simply had no idea what he was dealing with.

* * *

Kushina navigated the fair grounds with ease, often flaring her KI slightly to get people to part.

She had managed to get a tent to herself, since she always carried one of the magical tents with her. It didn't take much to secure a spot in the woods nearby, where no one else had pitched a spot.

To be honest, sleeping in the woods appealed to her more than sleeping in that crowded spot. Fortunately she wasn't going to be alone.

When they had come to watch the Quidditch World Cup, Kushina had gotten some extra tickets for the top box from the Minister in an effort to get on her good side. She gave them to the Lovegoods and had Neville join them, since his grandmother wouldn't take him.

Minato and Luna stayed with her while Neville stayed with the Weaslys. If Molly knew that Minato was in the same tent as them, she would have thrown a real fit. Xeno and Selene spent the time doing...other...things, since they had a tent to themselves.

When Kushina made it back to their campsite, Minato already had a good fire going and was making stew. Bill would come get them when the game was about to start, since she had told them where to find the tent.

They ate with some cheer, as this was the first time they had been alone with only Luna to talk to since they had found each other. Luna was more interested in seeing what her kitsune had learned from the older summons. Minato had already told her the requirements to register an animal as a nin pet, and Hokage was almost at that level.

Bill appeared right as Kushina was handing out a desert she had sealed away during her shopping spree in the normal side of London.

"Time to head to the stadium," he said cheerfully...as he swiped a piece of cake. Kushina whocked him upside the head.

"Get your own!" she barked at him playfully.

"Nope," said Bill amused, eating his cake.

"The cake is a lie," said Minato suddenly, as if he had found the answer to the universe.

And suddenly the cake in his hand vanished.

Luna giggled. Minato had been practicing that wandless vanishing trick for a week, and he had finally gotten it down.

"Minnie...are you high or something?" asked Kushina.

"...I did eat some odd brownies one of the witches from America was passing out..."

"Right...note to self, swipe some of the old monkey's stash," said Kushina.

As they made their way up to the top, Kushina kept having to reign in Minato because he was still under the effects of the 'brownies' he ate. Apparently the wandless magic he learned kept acting up, because people were suddenly loosing items of clothing without warning.

Jiraiya, had he been there, would have been proud...before he lost his lunch at how horrible most witches looked without clothes.

* * *

Narcissa Black was not a happy woman. She hated Quidditch with a passion, and her husband seemed to enjoy her misery every time the blasted world cup came up. At least Draco had enough common sense not to bring up the sport whenever she was nearby.

Then again she had heard rumors from her son that Kushina wasn't a fan of the sport and merely tolerated it in her presence. Fortunately it wasn't considered ill to become social with a young witch of similar station just now coming into full womanhood.

Which was why Narcissa ditched her husband and son to sit next to Kushina, who had an amused look as she kept her fiance in line. He appeared to have gotten a hold of the infamous American Brownies that often cropped up around these events.

"Just to warn you, Lady Narcissa, Micheal seems to have mastered wandless vanishing and appears to have lost control over the spell. People's robes have been vanishing all the way here," said Kushina amused.

Considering how at ease the girl was, Narcissa grinned.

"Think he can hit my husband with that trick?"

Micheal Lovegood blinked twice, and there was a surprised squawk from her husband behind her. Draco yelped, and quickly sat next to Luna in horror.

Narcissa turned around, and grinned evilly. That would teach him to force her to this hellish event every year!

"So... Sirius Black's cousin. One of the more interesting and sane ones from what I recall..." said Kushina.

"If you need helping pranking him, let me know. He's had it coming for _years_."

"Duly noted. So what's your opinion on Quidditch?"

Seeing the woman's eyes flare in irritation, Kushina grinned.

"You too huh?"

"I can't stand this damn sport..." she said bitterly.

"Ah...I take it he drags you here?"

"Unfortunately."

"Might I suggest a more...Slytherin approach for the revenge?"

Narcissa looked at Kushina in the eye as the girl had a positively evil smile. For once she didn't curse the fact that Sirius was head of the Black family and had named Kushina his heir.

The girl would have had Walpurga agreeing to the choice with that smirk. And she almost _never_ agreed with her oldest on anything!

"Oh?"

"For every Quidditch game he forces you to...you drag him into something you enjoy that you know he hates. Like say tea with the girls where he is forced to suffer through girl talk," said Kushina smiling.

Narcissa stared. Why the hell hadn't she thought of that?!

"And you can use that opportunity to get reacquainted with your sister Andromeda."

"Torturing Lucy here and talking to Andy... Perfect. He'd be in his own personal hell. Why aren't you in Slytherin with that attitude?"

"My nickname is the Red Hot-Blooded Habenaro because of my hair and temper. What do you think?"

"I think I've found a perfect new friend to talk to when it comes to dealing with my...husband."

The shivers that went down Lucius and Minato's spines scared the men to the bone. It was more than enough to snap Minato out of the brownie induced haze he had been enjoying.

The two women got on like a house on fire, to Narcissa's delight. She certainly hadn't expected the child Sirius had named his heir so easy to talk to. Draco took one look at the way Kushina and his mother were acting together and paled.

This...would not end well.

* * *

Narcissa watched her husband leave the tent drunk off his ass and in full Death Eater regalia. She never saw much point in becoming part of the Dark Lord's personal troops. Bellatrix was the one who had a thing for dominant men, not her.

She almost pitied him. Kushina, deciding to amuse Narcissa, had mentioned that she reminded her of a friend named Anko who loved snakes and torture. The only real difference was that Anko could give Bellatrix a run for her money while being slightly saner than Narcissa's sister.

It wasn't long before she heard the girlish scream of her husband. Popping her head out, she saw Kushina giving him a rather painful kick to the balls. Her boyfriend, the Lovegood boy, had summoned some rather large toads to cause his own chaos in the Death Eater ranks.

Then everything went to hell when some idiot summoned the mark of the Dark Lord. The Death Eater scattered, leaving behind a rather unhappy Kushina and a bored looking Micheal.

Draco, who had decided to go the neutral route, looked up from his book.

"Is it over yet? I would like to go to sleep without hearing some moron screaming," he asked bored.

"Yes it's over. I daresay your father will have to answer to why he's wearing that tacky outfit of his again," she said dryly.

"Not my problem," said Draco.

"It is if you continue to use the surname of Malfoy," she said.

"Like I said, not my problem. If he disowns me for having some common sense, then cousin Sirius will simply reinstate me as part of the Black family. He said I was welcome any time since he found out I didn't support the Dark Lord anymore."

"When did you speak to him?" she asked sharply.

"He came into the school disguised as Kushina's new pet. She was keeping an eye on him while she tried to see what really happened with her parents. I heard from Uncle Sev that all you need to do to get Pettigrew to break now is show a picture of her and he'll piss his pants while telling you anything you want to know," said Draco.

"If that girl hadn't gotten herself engaged to the Lovegood boy, I would have suggested you try to snag her for yourself."

Draco snorted openly at that.

"Mother, I love you more than father...but I am _not_ suicidal."

Seeing the look she shot him he rolled his eyes at her.

"Kushina Uzumaki and Micheal Lovegood are soul mates. And I mean that quite literally. Any attempts to get between them will only end in pain for the third party... Trust me when I say I've seen that one happen quite often."

"Explain."

"Ronald Weasly. That boy is so dense it's a miracle he passes his classes each year. He's got it into his head that Kushina is worthy of only him, and has been trying to break the two apart since second year. So far his humiliation has been numbered up to 75 times and counting, and he still doesn't seem to get the hint."


	16. Chapter 16

Kushina got onto the train with some amusement. She had apparently acquired another pen pal in the form of Narcissa Black and Andromeda Tonks. Apparently the fact that she was the Black heir meant that they were her first choices in motherly advice over Molly.

Fortunately for her sanity, Kushina knew very well what to expect growing into her body, so she mostly kept the topics to safe zones like fashion or revenge on someone who annoyed her. The women were very surprised that Kushina was in fact over thirty...closer to their age...but that she had a personal grudge against Dumbledore for dragging her into his mess.

When she explained that before she had been dragged halfway across the world and away from a battle to protect her newborn son (who survived, she was pleased to add), well the women were quite sympathetic and understanding. At this point the main reason she even stayed was because she wanted to keep her husband on the right side of death so she could have her _complete_ family back, not just her son. She had little doubt that should she abandon her mission now, Shinigami-sama would be cross enough that Minato would be taken away from her again.

* * *

Kushina lightly dozed on the way to Hogwarts. The night before had been hectic after dealing with Mrs. Weasly.

At least the woman had allowed her to get her own clothes...the idea of Mrs. Weasly measuring her so that she could pick up undergarments...

The idea had been shot down so fast that Mrs. Weasly apparently started to get the idea that Kushina wasn't as old as she appeared to be. The men, cowards that they were had abandoned that cat fight the second that the felt the first sparks being thrown.

Kushina had been properly horrified by the selection offered to magical witches...and had promptly chosen to stick to her formal kimonos. Kami-sama knew that they fit her better than those things! The only good news was that she had finally been able to get proper undergarments, since the most she had been wearing was a re-sized breast band.

* * *

When she sat at the table, she had been feeling relaxed. She got her aggression out early and Narcissa made an excellent conversationalist. She reminded her of Anko, only with Mikoto's Uchiha pride. If nothing else, Narcissa would have made an excellent kunoichi. Finding out that Kushina knew very well of the unpleasant necessities of being in a war, Narcissa found her to be a great person to unwind with. Kushina was sympathetic and didn't hold the fact that she had been born in a Dark Family against her.

All in all it was rather relaxing, talking about little things with Narcissa, even a bit about the war. In a way Kushina could tell Narcissa found it very relaxing too... and it didn't hurt that she had added a good three pages of things Kushina could do to Dumbledore. Narcissa had found it very amusing that Kushina had yet to ask if any of the things she mentioned were possible...because she new damn well it was with the removal of a lot of bones.

"So...what fresh hell do you think they'll unleash on us this year?" she asked the twins.

"What makes you say that?"

"Year one, possessed Professor. Year two, Pedophile Professor and a big ass snake that can kill with a glance. Year three, awesome werewolf Professor and dementors try to assault the castle despite being there for it's protection. Am I the only one who sees a pattern?"

At that, no one could disprove her theory. Something weird was going on here, if every year she attended some weird adventure happened. It was liked she was cursed or something.

(She was. Mito never mentioned it, but the Kyuubi had an ongoing curse with his containers. He was so pissed off about being sealed away that he placed an Ancient Chinese curse on his jinchuriki that he heard about from Niibi once. It was a simple one, but the effects lasted _forever._ The curse was: _May You Live In Interesting Times. _Naruto would discover this later on during his first C rank outside the village. It was kind of hard to make D ranks interesting.)

It was when Dumbledore mentioned the tournament that Kushina got her answer.

The only issue was that the current prefects in charge of Gryffindor were two that didn't seem happy with the fact she associated outside her house and status. Which meant that where she previously had the help of all eight prefects, she now had to work with only 6. She could only hope that the new guy wasn't like Lockhart.

They had barely managed to handle that situation, and even then the teachers were a bit surprised by the approach Kushina had used to keep the student safe. On the plus side, those that had been caught by the attentive prefects and Kushina's new map (the twins had given it to her saying she needed it more than they did at this point) had at least managed to get any and all homework done with the prefect that had caught them helping.

Fortunately all those with family in the Auror department had at least _heard_ of Mad Eye Moody. Which could only be good in the long run, right?

However the more she watched Moody walk, the more she started to frown. From what she had overheard from the others, Mad Eye had lost his leg at least three years ago.

So why did he walk like he was still trying to get used to the leg? And his movements...they were all wrong. As a self proclaimed master of the solid henge, Kushina picked up on a lot of details that didn't add up.

Real fighters who chased after those who could and would attack from behind were a lot more twitchy. (Case in point Ibiki Morino.) Plus the way he looked at the students didn't suggest he was gauging their threat level, but rather trying to pretend he was and failing miserably at that. She caught Minato's eyes and he nodded. Something was up about Moody. And all signs pointed to either brainwashing or an imposter.

"So let me get this straight. This tournament is for only those 17 and older, and it has a high death rate?" she asked.

"Yup," said Fred.

"In that case, I'll enter and if anyone needs help trying to get past whatever trick the old goat has in mind to keep minors out just ask," said Kushina.

* * *

Kushina walked into the classroom, she was decidedly unimpressed.

_If this man is the real dark wizard catcher, I'll go without ramen for an entire month,_ she thought to herself.

Everything about the way he moved screamed imposter. When he decided to put the children under one of the supposed Unforgivables, Kushina decided to step up and be the first victim.

And just like that, she knew she had the imposter cornered. His command under the Imperius was to cause herself harm. Apparently the commands could be mental, and not sub vocalized.

Kushina stared him in the one real eye he had and glared at him. Her eyes were augmented by the Kyuubi half she had inside her, and the man flinched. Her cold eyes were that of a trained killer, one that had no qualms about her job. For an insane cultist who could only kill using two words that didn't really cause any pain, she was something to be feared.

Kushina told him in no uncertain terms to go do something that made most men winced in sympathy. Moody didn't blink.

"You have fire girl, I'll give you that. Most people don't throw off an Imperious without blinking," he said with an impressed voice.

"Most don't have help throwing it off either, I bet," she said sarcastically.

The moment she started giving the teacher the evil eye and talked back, the other students sighed and started going towards the door. Clearly this teacher wasn't any good, despite all signs otherwise.

"Where are you lot going?"

"Kushina's a very good judge of character. If she doesn't like you, then either something's wrong with you or you're one of those idiots who preach from books not experience," said Draco flatly.

Moody twitched.

Draco turned to Kushina with resignation.

"Defense club at full force again?" he asked.

"Only until I can find the real one. This imposter is a terrible actor," she shot back.

Moody's twitch was starting to become a full body spasm. It was like she didn't even consider him a viable threat!

"We'll warn the other teachers about the noise. Try to keep the classroom from imploding," said Draco.

"I make no promises," she said. She cracked her knuckles, and Moody was glaring at her. This would not end well.

* * *

McGonagall twitched, and Snape handed her a bottle of firewhiskey without even being asked. She took a long pull at it and handed it back.

"Is there anything against the rules against strangling your charges?" she asked rhetorically.

"Yes, but if the other two heads of house would leave for a moment I won't mention it," said Snape. The other two snickered.

Kushina was a walking disaster. Yes, she had exposed an imposter posing as the Defense teacher, but she had blown out all the windows and the room looked like a veritable disaster area! It would take _ages_ to clean up this mess!

The girl was currently rooting through Moody's things for a clue as to where the real one was. Suddenly she paused at a regular trunk, hearing something. At random she lifted the thing open.

On her third try, she found Moody, hungry as hell and dehydrated. Kushina jumped into the deep pit the imposter had him in, and walked right back up with the weakened Moody on her back. She didn't even seem fazed by carrying the man who was easily her weight!

Moody took one look at the devastation she had caused and an appreciative glance at the tied up Barty Crouch Jr. and asked if she wouldn't mind being his assistant for the year. Kushina had laughed and casually mentioned her partner Micheal.

And with that, Kushina managed to prevent a rather irritating series of events which would have lead to the death of an older student. Which meant that there wouldn't be a fourth school added at the last second.

Students took in the rather grumpy Defense teacher and the fact that he was chatting calmly with Kushina and immediately knew that the real Moody was back. Once again, she and Minato had been roped in as assistants rather than students. Moody was smart enough not to try and teach a skilled killer old tricks. He could help them improve on existing ones, yes, but even he knew he was outclassed by them.

* * *

When October came around, Kushina and Minato found themselves standing next to Moody working security as the two foreign schools came into the area. Neither were very impressed by the obvious showboating.

Minato ended up sweating big time as he was stuck between a rather...well endowed...girl from Beauxbatons that could attract any male she wanted with a glance and a very pretty girl from Ravenclaw. Kushina kept shooting him dirty looks the entire night.

A few weeks later, Dumbledore announced the Champions. He had placed an age line around the Cup to keep the minors out.

Victor Krum and Fluer Delcour (who had been the girl sitting next to Minato when the Beauxbatons girls had come) had already been chosen. The Hogwarts students waited with baited breath for their champion to be announced.

Dumbledore caught the paper with ease...and his face went through a myriad of emotions before settling on surprise.

"Uzumaki Kushina."

Kushina got up and took a bow, to the amusement of the Hogwarts students. It didn't shock any of them that she had been chosen. She had walked right past that age line in full view of all three schools when she put her name in it.

Ron had foolishly tried to follow her, but he had gotten thrown back.

"Impossible! A fourteen year old girl cannot participate!" exclaimed Karkaroff.

Kushina glared at him so venomously that he actually backed away from her nervously.

Moody snorted.

"If she was an ordinary fourteen year old, I would agree. However that girl is strong enough to break an Imperius at point blank range from an expert. She can handle anything we throw at her with ease, I warrant," said Moody.

"Besides, there is a reason his precious age line didn't work on me," snorted Kushina.

Everyone looked at her oddly, but it did bring up the question...how had she gotten past the age line in full view of three judges without any magic or potion being detected?

"In any case, it's too late to change the champions now. Ms. Uzumaki will have to participate. She knowingly placed her name in the cup, and it chose her over dozens of others," said Bagman calmly.

Kushina didn't argue against it. She was most likely the best person to deal with whatever these wizards could throw at her. At the very least some innocent kid wouldn't get killed for a competition that had a high death rate.

* * *

Kushina ended up confronting Fluer before the first task. Apparently those of Veela blood had a thing for males who could throw off their allure without batting an eye.

"You think you are good enough for someone like him?" asked Fluer.

(I cannot do a French accent, and I won't butcher the language in a sad attempt to try.)

"Little girl, I hate to break it to you but Micheal is my betrothed. Either you get it through your head that he is taken...or I _will _get physical," said Kushina sweetly. Several males nearby winced and started running the other way.

Though to be fair, Kushina and Minato didn't see it as an engagement as more than a renewal of their vows. It wasn't really a popular thing in Konoha, but as long as it kept the other girls from trying to pursue her husband Kushina was more than happy to continue the ruse.

The two young women had a rather...electric...showdown. You could literally _feel_ the sparks flying between them.

Ron had thought the argument Kushina had with his mother was a bad cat fight...this was an all out territorial battle between a lion and a freaking tiger, and Kushina wasn't holding back her claws.

Though after that Fluer stopped chasing Minato, to his visible relief. Kushina had shocked the girl by offering her friendship on the grounds that Fluer never attempt to steal her boyfriend again.

To the relief of Madam Maxime, the girl had agreed. Fluer had so few female friends it wasn't funny. She was just lucky Kushina didn't hold a grudge once she won an argument.

Ever so slowly, the first task began to dawn on the champions.


	17. Chapter 17

Kushina wasn't impressed when she heard the task was dragons, and the way she hissed at Bagman for trying to give her pointers against her own dragon had made him flinch visibly to Fluer's amusement.

Though the way she took out the dragon would be talked about with fervor until the second task.

Kushina walked out unimpressed with the overgrown lizard who was cussing her out in parseltongue. She went right up to the flaming lizard, drew back a single fist, and decked the dragon hard with a chakra-infused punch. The thing was out like a light in three seconds flat, to the crowd's flat out shock. She smirked, took her egg and entered the tent to the surprise of the other two.

Minato told her she got a perfect ten from almost all the judges for such a shocking display of strength.

Her evil grin did not inspire confidence, and Fluer was very, very glad that she had decided to back off before Kushina could really get serious with her. Fighting against a girl who could and would deck a dragon without even blinking was not a good idea.

The party after that event was massive. Fortunately most of Hogwarts was behind Kushina, if not because she actually cared about the other students, but because she had just decked a dragon like it was nothing. If that didn't make her a Lion, then nothing did!

Ron tried and failed to woo Kushina during the party, but quickly ran away when she flared just a little KI his way. He was nothing if not a coward.

* * *

Kushina ended up running into Krum during her morning training outside. He seemed very surprised to find the Girl-Who-Kicked-Ass (which was now her official title in the school, since Girl-Who-Lived simply didn't do her justice...and for some reason the papers ran with it) doing what appeared to be Eastern martial arts during the chilly month.

When she challenged him to a swimming contest, his eyebrow had raised quite high, and he grinned. He won spectacularly, but he didn't hold a grudge. If anything he seemed rather happy with the result. The two went to breakfast debating books and moves used during fights.

Fluer seemed rather amused that Minato wasn't shooting his betrothed jealous looks in the least. Victor Krum was famous, handsome in a roguish way, and he was possibly the only one who could match her in strength.

* * *

Kushina had been beyond pissed when she learned that Minato had been taken. However she also had something the other challengers didn't.

She had conned Jiraiya into getting her a good Mist Rebreather, and she knew that since the thing ran on chakra, it wouldn't break down. With that and her natural ability to scare any predators in that lake, she could get to her boyfriend and back in less than an hour.

She saw Fluer get taken out by what Remus had called Grindylows last year. Which meant she would have two hostages to rescue, since she didn't trust Dumbledore with a broken wand.

Kushina was a faster swimmer than Krum or Fluer, and even with his partial transformation, he still couldn't catch up to her.

Kushina found a young girl who looked like Fluer and her boyfriend tied up to logs. They were being guarded by mermen, who quickly got the hell out of her way when they sensed what was inside her. Kushina used a chakra scalpel to cut the ropes, and started to kick towards the surface. She saw Krum swim up and save Hermione, so there was no worries there.

She broke through the water and noted with some concern that the Squid was highly agitated. Even the mermen didn't want to get too close to her if they could help it.

The girl sputtered, but managed to stay afloat while Minato spat out the water.

"I hate that damn goat," he growled.

"Agreed. Happily we have a ton of things we could do to him once this damn mission is over," she replied in Japanese.

Minato gave her a fierce grin. They helped Gabrielle (the girl Kushina took along with Minato) up to the platform.

"Ms. Uzumaki why were you using a muggle device?" asked Dumbledore. They weren't strictly banned in the school but they were frowned upon.

She rolled her eyes.

"I can't hold my breath at that depth without help. I'm not a complete idiot, and I happened to know someone who could get a magical version of a rebreather to use. The fact that it works proves that it is still within the parameters of the competition."

Dumbledore frowned, but she had a point. There wasn't anything against using outside devices.

Once again, Kushina had gotten the highest score available.

* * *

Kushina got dressed in her best formal kimono and had a clone do her hair. Minato had asked her to be his date the moment the ball had been announced and she had accepted loudly enough to curtail any chances of others asking later. Luna was going with Neville and Draco was taking a pure blood girl named Daphne.

Minato had been beyond relieved when Jiraiya delivered his formal outfit from home, which just needed to be resized slightly to fit.

Kushina was in an elegant kimono with a fire-style print on a deep ebony back ground. A lazy fox ran along the fabric, running through the flames. She had learned the charm in the library and it fit the theme. The fox itself had nine tails and was crimson. Someone had created the kimono based on seeing the Nine Tailed Fox before it was sealed, and the pattern had been passed down through generations.

Kushina had spent three paychecks on the kimono alone, but she considered it worth every ryo. She was proud to be the one that carried the Kyuubi no Yoko inside her. It wasn't a burden like it was to the other jinchuriki.

Her hair was done up in the most intricate noble style she could manage, and she had her foxes appear in her house to retrieve her adopted mother's hair pins. The effect was stunning, and now she looked every inch an Eastern Princess.

It didn't hurt in the least that she had stolen the Prefect's password to their private bathroom, which had a pool sized tub that worked wonders on the little kinks she had developed. She had spent and entire night before just relaxing and having a day off.

Her clone had applied make up with expert ease, since it had been one of the few classes she had stayed for at the Academy. Around her neck was a pendant with the Uzumaki clan crest, which settled nicely around her throat.

When she stepped out of the room, all the boys in the Gryffindor Common Room stopped what they were doing and stared with mouths open. They couldn't help it, even when their dates kicked them in a not so subtle manner.

"Really Kushina, did you have to try and outdo everyone?" asked Hermione exasperated.

"If you want Hermione, I can help you with yours," she said.

Seeing the amateurishly done make up and hair style, she had to offer her help.

Hermione accepted it with grace. Clearly Kushina knew more than she did about such matters.

When she came down a second time, Hermione looked like a princess herself, and Kushina found her skills in dressing up on high demand. Fortunately none of the girls were about to mention the shadow clones that helped.

Needless to say the Gryffindor girls outshone every other house, and almost all of Beauxbatons.

* * *

Minato was wearing his favorite haori and hakama, both with the Namikaze clan crest on the side. He had avoided the dress robes like the plague when he saw how ghastly they looked.

With the outfit he was wearing, and his looks, Minato was being considered eye candy for practically any female in the castle, both foreign and domestic. Some even got nosebleeds just thinking how he would look in a few years.

Fortunately for him, they all backed off once informed of Kushina's claim on him. Didn't stop his fan girls from stalking him however, to his horror.

Kushina and Minato moved like a well oiled machine. It was quite impressive to watch, as their movements matched the other perfectly. They stayed on the dance floor until they became peckish, and Minato wasn't surprised in the least that Kushina ordered five large bowls of ramen and told the elves to keep them coming.

The house elves, in their infinite wisdom (and the knowledge that if they feed Kushina ramen she would leave them be), had placed the dish on the menu along with a few eastern desserts like dango. Luckily for them, their skill at making such things had only improved once Minato gave them a recipe book and explained where they could get the ingredients listed.

Which made for a very happy Kushina and a very relieved force of house elves. The evening was going on so well that Kushina almost didn't notice the odd beetle which had been following her around since the weighing of the wands.

The look on Ollivander's face had been priceless when he learned that she had never used the wand she had purchased once.

* * *

_Flashback_

Kushina evaded Rita with ease, not in the mood for an interview. She quietly chatted up some of the other wizards there, to their amusement, when the Headmasters/Headmistress arrived. Dumbledore seemed surprised that he didn't need to rescue her from the reporter.

Fluer went up first, and Kushina wasn't surprised to hear that she had the hair of a close relative in her wand. Krum wasn't surprising either.

But when she placed her wand on the scale, which had been polished last night to a shine, Ollivander frowned.

"Ms. Uzumaki this is not the wand I sold you four years ago," he said with surprise.

Dumbledore looked at her sharply. Kushina gave him a look.

"I purchased that as a back up...unfortunately the wand I bought from you was such an ill fit that I never bothered to use it. It refuses to even spark for me now," she explained.

Which was quite true, since halfway through her first year the wand stopped responding to her at all, which was usually a sign that the wand wasn't suited to the wielder. She had put it in her trunk and had never thought about it again.

Ollivander blinked, but decided not to investigate further. He was merely the expert opinion that Dumbledore had called in.

"Nine inches, made from cherry blossom grown on ground inhabited by nature spirits. Core is fox demon fur and some sort of magical construct that I don't recognize. It appears to be well used and cared for," said Ollivander after a minute. He did a wave of the wand, and suddenly there was a large spectral fox behind Kushina. It barely fit the room.

"Temperamental as well, just like it's master."

"It just doesn't like being held by anyone but me," said Kushina with a shrug. Which was true because for some bizarre reason, whenever she gave the wand her weekly weapon maintenance the thing tended to, for lack of a better term, purr.

And for some very disturbing reason it sounded _exactly_ like the Kyuubi when he was in one of his more friendly moods and Kushina actually scratched between his ears. The first time it happened it had freaked the hell out of her.

Kushina stroked her wand and watched with great amusement as the other people in the room backed away rather quickly when it started to do it's purring noises. No one could figure out why it did that (including Ollivander who was beyond freaked out at the occurance) but she found the reactions hilarious.

_Flashback end_

* * *

Kushina trapped the bug in a sealing scroll and planned to either deal with it (if it was an animagus like McGonagall and Sirius) or give it to the Aburame clan for their hives (if it was a normal bug, because she knew they would love it). Alas, the beetle turned out to be the rather irritating Rita hoping to snag a decent scoop when everyone's defenses were down.

She found a rather irate Kushina instead.

Kushina walked with the other two champions, bored out of her mind. The last task happened to be a maze, which seemed dead boring to her. At least the other two no longer disputed her right to be there. Kami knows what would have happened if one of the other student had gotten picked!

(Knowing Minato, if he had gotten picked he would have just used frog summons on both of the other tasks. It wasn't that hard a stretch.)

* * *

During the one month they had to get ready, Kushina decided to take the cautious approach. Something about the last task didn't feel right, and it was better to be over prepared than go in with practically nothing.

She had everything inside three sealing scrolls, and she could summon anything inside them with a little chakra and which was keyed to each item. Under her 'champion' uniform was her ANBU outfit, complete with headband.

Whatever was about to happen, she would deal with it befitting a kunoichi of Konoha. She still remembered the visit with Naruto as he talked about his new 'Sirius-jiji' who was now in the running for his favorite old man.

Kushina still laughed at the look on Sirius' face when he heard that nickname, because in the eyes of the ten year old, he _was_ ancient.

The more Naruto raved about Sirius, the more she knew sending him had been an excellent idea.

For starters, he had passed the recovery stage from dementor exposure for twelve years. Inoichi had cleared him to join the shinobi ranks once his stamina had improved enough. Apparently Sirius had mastered wandless magic in his fifth year, around the same time he became an animagus.

Kushina had taken the same potion the Marauders had, and wasn't the least bit surprised to have a Fire Country Tiger and a three tailed Kitsune as her animal forms. Minato's animal had been (surprise, surprise) a toad about half Gamabunta's size.

* * *

She had entered the maze first, getting through the rather paltry traps that would only stop a determined civilian for longer than a moment. She could feel a sense of wrongness where the goblet was supposed to be.

Without warning, she heard Fluer scream and she darted through the maze expertly, ignoring the traps which were very easy to navigate...for a trained shinobi that is. Kushina found Krum standing over Fluer with his wand raised. Kushina came up from behind the boy, hit a specific pressure point in the neck, and he was out like a light.

Fluer was in no condition to get to the center...her leg had been broken. Kushina cast the spell to alert the teachers outside, and darted deeper into the maze. She quickly located the goblet, shooting a single fireball at the acromantula which had tried to attack her in warning. The moment she touched the goblet, signifying her win, the world spun like that horrible morning before the Quidditch World Cup...when she took that port key to the site. She hated that feeling and from what she could tell, the Fox didn't like it either.

As she landed, she was a bit dazed. She heard someone say something to another, and was hit by a flash of light while she was still trying to get her bearings. Port keys didn't agree with her, and using one often disoriented her for a good minute, despite the Fox's healing ability and her naturally fast healing given to her by the blood adoption into the Uzumaki clan.

She passed out from the spell...and awoke to find herself rather firmly pinned to an angel statue with her hands bound behind her in what was a very painful way for a civilian.

A man appeared with what seemed to be an infant, but if it was, she would give up ramen for life. Whatever was in his hands didn't seem natural, and went against all her senses. The thing inside the bundle squirmed, and the man turned the thing towards her. Her eyes narrowed in anger.

She had been captured by the same enemy she had defeated twice already. This would not end well.


	18. Chapter 18

Kushina was not happy, and when she wasn't happy bad things tended to happen...to others that is. The last time she had been this pissed was when Lockhart had tried to showboat and inadvertently kill two girls with his stupidity. It had been particularly satisfying to watch him get mauled by the agitated squid in the lake.

Her current level, however, was about three stages higher than that year. For some annoying reason, Voldemort was immune to her KI at the moment. His minder, however, wasn't.

So Kushina decided to expand her senses out of irritation and the hopes that some good might come of this bad situation.

She had no idea that doing so would alter certain events later. Her senses picked up one of the rather disgusting soul pieces this third rate baddie loved to make...and the presence of Shinigami-sama's power.

She blinked, and focused heavily on that sense.

Sure enough, she had accidentally found the last item that Shinigami-sama wanted her to locate, which meant she wouldn't have to search for months for the damn thing. Though it bothered her that this third rate hack had placed a piece of his soul into it...which could be remedied easily enough with a little application of the Kyuubi's chakra.

For some reason, Kyuubi's chakra reacted negatively to such things, and tended to destroy them without ruining the object or person it was in. She wasn't about to question it at the moment, considering it was a blessing in disguise. Now all she had to do was snag whatever the hell thing thing was and get the port key back.

* * *

Kushina's anger level had tripled to heights even the Kyuubi was afraid of for good reason (no sane male wants to piss off a woman who can emit more youki than the average demon). Voldemort had foolishly used her blood to resurrect himself, something that had angered her to no end. The way he had done it was an affront to nature and more importantly Shinigami-sama. It was easily on par with the Edo Tensei technique that Orochimaru favored.

So it was understandable that when she was finally released from the statue, the first thing she did was unleash one of the tails of Kyuubi on his ass.

It was something she loathed doing, because the more she unleashed, the worse Kyuubi's influence on her got. She was proud to say that her control was good enough for five tails before she actually had a chance of losing control.

Something about the Kyuubi's chakra kept the Death Eaters from escaping...which Kushina gleefully took full advantage of. Voldemort managed to get her to unleash two tails, which is when the Death Eaters really started to panic.

The Unforgivables flew through the air, all attempting to stop her. Curses meant to disembowel, mortally wound or just do massive damage to the human body were all cast aside in the way of something that was beyond mere mortal comprehension.

By the time Kushina dropped the Bijuu Cloak, a good portion of the Dark Lord's inner circle were either dead, dying, or critically injured. Unfortunately, Voldemort himself had managed to escape...but not before she dealt some serious chakra related burns to the man's wand arm. It would take _months_ for that to heal and that was if someone who specialized in those types of injuries was there to treat it.

Kushina followed the sense from before to the house...and found a box that crumbled when it came into contact with the Kyuubi's youki. She heard the thing inside scream much like her scar had when she first got the Kyuubi sealed inside her.

Her hands dipped into the bag...and found a rather ornate ring. Apparently the infamous Resurrection Stone had been turned into a piece of tacky jewelry.

Kushina made her way to the port key, eying the thing with distaste. She hated the things with a passion, but it was the only way back. She did, however, pause long enough to blast her clothes with a low powered Water style jutsu to wash as much blood off her as possible.

She picked the goblet up...and was back at Hogwarts in time for her Kyuubi-enhanced senses to cry out in pain from the overload of information. The crowd was far too noisy, the smell was overpowering, and the light was far too strong.

Minato was at her side in a heartbeat, and his soothing presence managed to calm her down long enough for her fox enhancements to return to neutral states.

Needless to say she kept the fact that the third rate hack (in her opinion) was back, not wanting to start a riot and deal with the terrified politician.

She played the port key thing off as a Death Eater who had been waiting to get revenge for the World Cup, when she had publicly trounced them. Fudge bought that half lie in a heartbeat, not wanted to even consider the Dark Lord returning.

Kushina kept the fact Voldemort was back to herself, even when asked by Dumbledore. She did, however, warn Snape. He was one of the few teachers who knew her real age, and that she trusted.

He still didn't know about the Kyuubi though. And after the first Death Eater meeting in over a decade, that was a good thing. Particularly after Snape delivered a warning to Voldemort from Kushina.

_Either you cut the crap and stop making those soul pieces of yours, or the beat down I gave you in that graveyard will **pale **__in comparison to what I will do to you next time we meet._

* * *

Shinigami-sama had extraordinarily pleased that she had gotten her hands on another Deathly Hallow. This was proven by the fact that Kushina's connection to Naruto had been opened fully, so that she could visit him in his dreams whenever she wanted, instead of once a year.

Considering her mission was almost over, Kushina broached the subject of the soul pieces that Voldemort had.

Shinigami-sama actually _growled_ when he heard about those. He wasn't too pleased to hear about soul pieces, which went against everything he stood for...and the fact that the paperwork for dealing them was triple that for the clean up from one of Naruto's worst pranks. (Which have been known to cover the entire Hokage desk and took days to complete, since it was all in triplicate. Sarutobi had begged the boy with actual tears in his eyes to at least _warn_ him the next time he was going to do a repeat.)

As a result, Shinigami-sama tacked something on to Kushina's almost complete mission. If she found and destroyed all the soul pieces (and had their clones file the paperwork for them) he would owe them one. The fact was that Kushina and Minato had long since grown used to being in his service, so it really wasn't that big a deal for them.

Kushina's first act once the school year ended was to tell Petunia that the same hack who killed her sister was back, and that it was advisable to leave the country. Since she more or less got along with the woman, she helped her locate a small little cottage overlooking the sea and then helped her fabricate a lie that her husband had found an affordable place in another country.

The place Kushina found spoke mostly English, was fancy enough to sate Petunia and Vernon, and it was far out enough that the Death Eaters would never find them.

Dudley would have to fly home in order to remain at Smeltings, but from what she understood it was a military school of sorts, so if the Death Eaters ever did invade they would be in for a nasty surprise.

* * *

Four days into Summer, Kushina found herself with two dementors trying to kill her. This didn't exactly surprise her, because after a conversation with Shinigami-sama she learned why the damn things hated her so much.

Finding out the God of Death had created them in a fit of boredom and then abandoned them was not exactly a pleasant thought. Finding out that souls eaten by Dementors never had a chance to reincarnate was even worse. Which was why Kushina took particular pleasure in frying the bastards.

A few days later Dumbledore's band of merry misfits came and tried to convince her to leave. So she did the obvious thing.

She read the notice of where they were supposed to be, made a clone and ran all the way to the nearest floo at the Leaky Cauldron and ended up staying with Micheal and Luna for an entire week.

It took that long for the clone to vanish, and that because Ron had hit it with a book. She couldn't wait to see the look on their faces when they realized that not only had she given them the slip...but she had long since figured out where Voldemort was.

But since she had to find the soul pieces and destroy them, she decided a different approach. Minato and Luna would help her, at least until the school started.

As it was, she gave Malfoy Manor a wide berth. A few days after escaping to the Lovegood house, Draco ended up dropping by looking worn out and not as smartly dressed as he usually was. Apparently he had made an escape from his father...and Voldemort. Narcissa was safe because she was a proper pure blood and mostly stayed out of the way, but Draco had already shown he wasn't going to follow the Dark Lord so he was fair game.

When Sirius heard about that, he made his way back home to reinstate the boy as Draco Black, thereby cutting any connection to his father. Which meant that unless Narcissa became pregnant before Lucius was killed by Kushina or Minato, the Malfoy line would end.

And considering she had been taking a lot of anti pregnancy charms to avoid a second child after the pain of the first...that wasn't happening any time soon.

* * *

Kushina looked unrepentant when Dumbledore and Molly tried to tag team her for pulling the slip on them. The fact was that she could take better care of herself than they could, and there wasn't a chance in hell she was cleaning this bloody house!

Minato was the neat one in the relationship, Kushina was the cook. There was a reason why her genin team quit taking any missions to clean a house. She couldn't clean to save her life, and attempts to do so caused the house to nearly be destroyed.

Though she did something Molly had been trying without success since they decided to borrow Sirius' house.

She got Walpurga to shut up.

What the occupants _didn't_ expect was for the red head to take Walpurga's side of the argument.

"You people barged in here turning it into your own private clubhouse and started throwing things she had for years away without once stopping to ask her opinion of the matter. Of course she's going to be pissed off!" said Kushina.

Walpurga was so surprised someone had enough common sense to see things from her perspective that she clammed up and looked at the girl with appreciation. If this girl was Sirius' Heir, then he had chosen the right one for once in his life!

It didn't take long for Kushina to seal away most of the Dark Artifacts that everyone was raising a stink over, and once she flared her KI through the house most of the pests that had been causing problems went running in mass. With the way she sealed the items away, it was impossible for the kids to get a hold of them, and it kept the idiots who followed the Dark Lord from every getting their hands on them through Mundungus.

Kushina had confiscated all the things he stole and returned those from the people in the house and sealed away the rest. Walpurga had been beyond pleased about that.

* * *

Kushina's appearance in the Order of the Phoenix had immediately spurred a change. For one thing, the one time they tried to keep her out of an important meeting which involved the Orochimaru Wannabe, Kushina had blasted the door down in irritation and sat through it.

Though it quickly became apparent that she was quite disgusted with the entire Order...and Dumbledore.

"So just to be clear...this little Order of yours is one of the primary forces against this bastard...and the most you do is hit and run tactics?" she said in distaste.

Snape could see where she was going with this, and to be honest he hadn't been happy with their primary strategy either.

"And not only that, but you people actually expect to win this war with _only_ non lethal attacks? What the fuck have you people been smoking if you believe for an instant such a thing will work?!" she asked incredulous.

They all stared slack jawed at the red head who had just told them that their strategy was so flawed a spell could go through it. Molly looked upset that the girl had cussed them out without even blinking.

And then Kushina lit into them. Snape would treasure the look on Dumbledore's face as she told them in exacting detail why their strategy was flawed, and how idiotic he was to think that fighting a war without getting dirty was beyond idiotic...it was suicidal.

"Wars are bloody, messy affairs and anyone going at them half assed is going to get themselves killed. A war is no place for peace, and the idea of winning one by using non lethal spells is so laughable that it would make anyone who has ever been in one wipe tears from their eyes from laughing so hard. A war is a place where the situation is kill or be killed, where your comrades are the only thing that keeps the insanity and horror of it at a bay, even if only for a moment. Atrocities which should never see the light of day are committed all for the sake of winning wars, and are afterwords called horrifying, but people deal with it all for the sake of winning.

"If you intend to win this war of yours, old man, you damn well grow some balls and drop this pretty little dream of yours that you live in. When you have to fight in a war, you can't allow morals keep you from stopping the other party. Morals can be deadly in such a battle. And I know for a fact the other side won't have any such reservations. The only thing you can do to keep from being called as evil as the other half is to show some humanity and kindness, even if it's helping those not fighting get out of the way of the battle."

They all stared at her in shock. Some of those who had fought in the previous war admitted that she had a damn good point. But they had tried to forget it so hard that they had difficulty adjusting.

"How would a child know of war?" demanded Molly.

Kushina tried to like the woman, she really did, but Molly Weasly reminded her far too much of a Haruno, with a voice to match. She was so determined to keep her children from experiencing the harsh realities of life that she was going to get them killed. There was a reason why Bill and Charlie chose professions that had them leave home for months at a time.

Kushina laughed, and it wasn't a pleasant sound. She looked right at Dumbledore as she said "Why don't you ask your precious leader _how_ he found me in the first place, then you can ask me what I know of war."

Dumbledore was not happy about being on the spot, but at the cold glare Molly was sending him he told them the truth.

"I couldn't find her where I left her, so I had Fawkes try. He refused, which meant she was either too far for him to find or already dead. So I used a forbidden ritual to bring her to us. Severus supplied the potion, and it worked..." he said carefully.

Kushina glared at him.

"You dragged me away from a battle where my son's life was on the line, you asshole. I was fighting a demon the size of the castle when it dealt me a mortal blow and all of a sudden I was forced through some small tube and woke up in the body of an eleven year old child. If it wasn't for Shinigami-sama assuring me that I would be sent home with my back up after I did a job for him, I wouldn't have stayed longer than a few months to reacquaint myself with my abilities," she told him flatly.

"But the prophecy!" he stammered.

"I don't give two shits about any prophecy, and anyone who starts spouting about Fate right now is going to get an ass kicking. I'll settle my score with you once I complete the mission Shinigami-sama gave me, and then I'm heading back to my son. He needs me more than this backward place," said Kushina with a growl.

"How can you possibly have a son?! You're only fifteen!" shrieked Molly.

"Madam Pomphrey, who is one of the best medics on this side of the world, didn't do a complete check up. I had just given birth a few hours before _Dumbledore _(she spat his name out) dragged me halfway across the world to end his idiotic war. And for your information, Mrs. Weasly, I am not fifteen. I am actually 37 years old, and I was not happy having to go through puberty twice."

Molly looked like she was about to have an apoplectic fit.

Finding out the girl before her was nearer her own age instead of her youngest son had been a hard blow.

"From what we could tell, she had been thrown about twenty years into the past. By what, we haven't a damn clue. All I know was that the magical drain alone could kill most wizards," said Snape.

"I didn't even know I was from the future until I learned the date and found out who my birth parents were," said Kushina.

"You kept speaking about a mission. What mission?" asked Dumbledore, desperate for a change of subject.

"I'm sure you've all heard of the Deathly Hallows, or at least know of three mystical objects that belong to Death," she said.

"It's an old bedtime story. What of it?" snorted one wizard.

"They're real and Shinigami-sama, the God of Death which granted the boon originally to the three brothers, wants them back. Apparently the paperwork they cause is enough of a headache that he was willing to make a deal with me since I was supposed to die from the claw wound the demon gave me. Because of the nature of a seal I've carried since I was six, he was able to speak to me directly. And before any of you get into a snit, I've been getting a lot out of the deal with the god in return."

"What could possibly be worth making a deal with death!?" asked Molly outraged.

Kushina looked her in the eye and said "The ability to save my husband and speak to my son halfway across the world," she said flatly.


	19. Chapter 19

The outcry of that announcement was enough to give Kushina a massive headache. She could already see the wheels in Dumbledore's mind working to keep her here.

"Yes, I have a husband and he happens to be my back up. Any of you who have actually paid attention to that glorified gossip rag known as the Prophet and had half a brain cell could figure out who he is. My husband and I were supposed to die that night, so while I lost half my age, he gained a new body."

"I bet it's that no good Micheal!" said Molly angrily. She liked the boy well enough, but he was too mischievous for his own good.

"It is Micheal, and before you try anything Dumbledore, he is very well aware of who he was in his previous life and he is just as well trained as I am. Nothing you could offer would convince me to stay once I get done with the mission Shinigami-sama gave me. I want to see my son again," said Kushina angrily.

"I'm sure your son could..."

"Not a chance in hell old man. While things might initially be better for him here, I can tell you with certainty that he safer there than he is here. For one thing, he won't have you trying to turn him into another pawn to use and abandon. That boy is a real powerhouse, and he is being trained to use that power the best way he can where he is. I am not about to let you ruin his life like you tried with my goddaughter," said Sirius suddenly.

"And yet another reason why I trust you more than I do that old pervert..." muttered Kushina.

Kushina turned to Dumbledore with a glare.

"Shinigami-sama is beyond pissed about those soul fragments lying around. When I informed him of the matter, he asked me to deal with them as well. I can assure you Tom Riddle, AKA Voldemort will be suffering through the worst hell you can imagine for making those. As it stands, there are only a few still around. I have dealt with the Diary, the Goblet, a Necklace that I found right here, and a ring that held the Resurrection Stone which has been handed over to Shinigami-sama once the taint was removed. He also possesses the Invisibility Cloak you gave me four years ago, and he removed all those silly little spells you laced it with. The only Hallow still on this side of the living plain is your Elder Wand, which you will hand over once I deal with Voldemort, or you will suffer even more than what I originally had in mind for your meddling," said Kushina with a finality that Dumbledore shivered.

After her initial arrival, the air around the house seemed to change slightly. Originally Molly had assumed control of the house, trying to actually make it livable. Her attitude towards the house had annoyed both house elf and over half the paintings. In another life, Sirius would have allowed it because he had no choice and because of his faith in the old man.

But this was not the same man who had spent 12 years in Azkaban for a crime he had never committed in the first place. This was a man who had grown up a little, and had come to like the person he was becoming. Konoha had been better for him than Kushina had hoped.

Most of his anger towards Peter and traitors in general had been worked out by helping Anko in the T and I division, and he was considered a Chunin with certain skills. His stamina had shot through the roof while running with Naruto for nearly a year, so he could keep up with most shinobi in the field. All in all, he was far more stable mentally than he would have been had he stayed in England.

The atmosphere in the country wasn't exactly very healthy to those with unstable backgrounds. And the upcoming war would only make it worse.

So Sirius, not Molly, took command of the house and everyone quickly figured out that they were the _guests _in the house, not the owners. After living in Konoha, Sirius had developed a more neutrally Dark attitude towards his family. When Walpurga figured that out she approved of it, and quit attacking her son.

Neutral Dark was better than being the sheep that was lead by the blind Sheppard. At least now she could speak to him civilly, which was only an improvement. It even made Kreacher easier to live with, to his surprise.

With that change in attitude, while the house was cleaned, the Dark Artifacts that were found were quickly sealed away instead of tossed. This included books, to Kushina's delight.

She had mostly argued against throwing them away because to be fair they were mostly family heirlooms. Even if Sirius didn't like his family that much (having very little to redeem them from being Voldemort supporters to begin with) he did agree that having family heirlooms stored somewhere else was acceptable.

Especially since in the process she had discovered another soul piece...which prompted Kreacher's sobbing tale of how Regulus actually died. It was an act that had Sirius no longer cursing his brother's name.

He was surprised to learn later that his brother had been reborn already...into the body of a certain Uchiha who wasn't living in the village. Apparently Regulus' act of subverting the Dark Lord at the expense of his life had impressed the God of Death enough to give him a second chance...even if he didn't know about it. That Uchiha would try to get along with his younger sibling and fail miserably at it. Kushina, when she learned who Regulus had been reborn as, fell on her ass laughing.

She knew him! She had even _babysat_ him when he was little! She gleefully gave Sirius tales that he could use against his reincarnated brother.

* * *

The moment Kushina laid eyes on the book the new teacher had assigned, she knew that she would have to bring the Defense Club back at full force. It had been at half power for two years, mostly because the people at the job were competent enough to actually _teach_ the kids how to defend themselves. Moody had been one of her favorites, because he put them through a bastardized form of the Auror training.

However the book this person was assigning had nothing but a load of nonsense. The man said that jinxes weren't that dangerous for Kami's sake!

Kushina snorted, and had the goblins alert anyone who went to Hogwarts that the Defense Club would be covering most of the Defense this year. Since everyone would be heading there first to get cash for school supplies, the word would spread easily enough.

Kushina managed to beat Molly there by slipping out of the house to pick up her supplies personally. Her shinobi trained speed and little quirks given to her by the Kyuubi meant she beat the woman to the Leaky Cauldron by a good minute, since it was barely ten mile away and Molly was going by floo.

Kushina took her camera out and took a picture of the look on Molly's face when she realized that not only had Kushina managed to sneak out of the house, she had beaten her to the Cauldron.

The girl ducked under Molly's hand and went into the alley to pick up her supplies. Molly simply couldn't keep up with Kushina's clones.

Since the goblins had long since adjusted the wards around the bank not to go off around Kushina (it was seriously irritating for both parties to hear those alarms go off simply because she stepped into the bank) she walked in with her usual grin.

It was long since time to set into motion her plan to cut off all ties to the magical world.

She was about to ask for Griphook, the one in charge of her account when she spotted him down the line. She abandoned the line she was in and headed down to the one where he was at. He spotted her, and noticed with some interest that she had abandoned the previous line to join his. Perhaps she had business with him?

If so, how did she recognize him? Most humans had great difficulty recognizing goblins and almost never looked them in the eye.

Kushina was one of the rare few who would look a goblin in the eye, even if she had to bend down to do so. It was that reason alone that they liked her so much.

"What business do you have with the bank, Uzumaki-san?" asked Griphook in Japanese.

"I think it's time to do the merger with the account I have connected you with," she replied in the same language.

Griphook nodded and had someone take over for him.

Kushina waited patiently, admiring the weapons on the shelves with a critical eye.

Griphook returned with the goblin in charge of the bank itself.

"Ms. Uzumaki, you wish to start the transfer of funds to the other account you brought to our attention?" asked Ragnarok.

"Indeed. Shinigami-sama has asked me to find these...soul pieces...on top of the mission he has already given me, since that one is almost completed. Such a mission should take less than a year once Voldemort really starts to move. He doesn't seem particularly bright, and news of the fact that over half had been taken out are sure to get him to move the others. Since I do not wish to be forced to return a second time, I would like to start the transfer now before he has a chance to catch wind of it," she said pleasantly.

"Have you contacted your village?"

"Sarutobi knows that we are sending new blood into the village, and several acres have been set aside in the forest for you and your people. The only request he has is that you do not chop down the trees, because they lend power to a massive seal hidden in the forests of the village. You are free to dig if you wish, however."

Ragnarok seemed pleased by that news. Ever since the initial meeting with Minato, who was due to retake the position as the village leader upon his return, the outcome of the move would prove favorable.

At the very least they wouldn't be looked down upon, because most shinobi never looked twice at them,during the rare times they came into contact with them. In fact they were more respectful than the wizards ever were, being from a warrior society like the goblins.

Which was the only reason that Ragnarok even considered her request to transfer _all_ of the Uzumaki accounts and the other ones to her personal account in Konoha. While such a move would harm their potential interest, even they agreed that the idea of allowing the Ministry to try and hold it against her was a bad one.

At the very least, she had assured them that Dumbledore would no longer be a problem once she left. Seeing some of the things she planned to do to him made the goblins grin in appreciation. Clearly she was one who knew that revenge was a dish to be savored.

The goblins would handle the transfer, and most of the items in the Potter Mansions would be stored, and sent to Konoha. That included the portraits. To her surprise and delight, there _was_ a portrait of her birth mother and father, though it appeared Lily wasn't a fan of having one.

Kushina had instructed the goblins to save whatever was inside the houses, and sell everything else.

Unfortunately, she didn't realize until Griphook told her that she had to deal with house elves. Elves that were torn between being afraid of being set free or the demon inside her.

Kushina, ever the practical, had a solution. They would remain bonded to her line, and since it wasn't exactly like she would have a real use for them she would allow them to work in the hospital inside Konoha. Most elves were very good at cleaning and getting medicine down unwilling throats, so it was the perfect solution.

However they had to wait until she returned so that they could be placed properly. Some would remain in her house, but the rest would help around the hospital with her permission.

Until then, they would mingle with the Hogwarts elves, which meant no one would realize anything was wrong.

By the time she settled the mission Shinigami-sama had given her, Dumbledore would never be able to pull her back, and the Ministry would abruptly lose all ties to her home. If they wanted her to return, they would have to hire like any other shinobi.

* * *

Kushina got on the train, only this time she had a new addition to her uniform.

In her letter there had been an odd badge...and McGonagall later told her that she beat Hermione by a wide margin when it came time to choose the new prefect. Chances were high that should she stay until seventh year she would make Head Girl like her mother had.

But Kushina really didn't fancy staying that long, and the sad fact was she might very well be gone by then.

So she was stuck patrolling the train with the other prefects, though to be fair it wasn't that different than the usual thing she did at the school. The only difference was that she had more power over the students.

Many greeted her with warm smiles, asking her if it was true that the Defense Club was going to be a bit more homework oriented than last year. Once they learned about how pathetic the book was and what it said about the teacher, well they grumbled with good humor but didn't complain.

The fact was that Kushina was a much better teacher than some of the others, and she at least took time to explain what they were doing wrong and how they could correct it.

There were several familiar faces, and Kushina noted with some surprise that Minato had ended up becoming a prefect as well, despite being a fourth year. Hermione seemed a bit confused about that point. Then again, Neville was the prefect for the male half.

"I just don't understand it...the other prefects are all fifteen and older..."

"I asked Flitwick, and he said that since Kushina was picked for the girl's side in Gryffindor, it simply made more sense to make me one early. It wasn't like I wouldn't get it next year anyway," said Minato.

Which made more sense than it didn't, actually. Minato had been slated early for the prefect position after the teachers saw how well he handled the bullying problem Luna had, and how well he worked with Kushina. Since he would most likely end up becoming one next year anyway, they decided why not cut to the chase and get it over with? From the looks of things, no one seemed the least bit surprised to see the two with prefect badges.

* * *

The second Kushina saw the new Defense teacher, her hackles were raised. She could see Minato making a rather hilarious face when he saw her. It was one of despair and absolute disgust.

Despair...because the woman looked so much like one of his toads that it wasn't even funny. And disgust because she had a penchant for pink only a Haruno would love. It was horrifying!

And when she opened her mouth, Kushina instantly hated her. She was going to treat them all like three year old children.

Seeing the evident dislike on her face, the word was quickly spread that the new Defense teacher wasn't worth going to class for. Umbridge would be in for a nasty surprise when classes started.

Students, as a habit, had learned to hit the library depending on how Kushina reacted to the teacher. If they were good, then the amount of time in the library was minimal. If they were bad...

Well, chances were very good that the class would be empty and the library full of students. The first years would be lead by the second years, who had gotten used to this quirk.

* * *

Umbridge waited patiently for her first class. She would show these children that the Ministry's law was absolute, and that Dumbledore was a crackpot. At least she didn't have to worry about the Potter girl, who seemed to hold the Headmaster in some disdain if the way she lit into him about the ward issue was any indication.

She looked at the clock. It was five minutes till her class, and still no students. She frowned. Surely there would be some early birds?

The next time she looked at the clock, it was ten minutes past the start of the class, and it was still barren. What the devil was going on?!

Huffing, she waited another fifteen minutes before she went looking for her students. The teachers seemed amused more than anything, as if they knew where they were.

It took her an entire hour to find them in the library of all places. There were her students bent over numerous defensive books and chatting quietly among themselves over the efficacy of each spell they found. If she were any normal teacher she would have forgiven them for not coming to her class to focus on private study. Alas, Umbridge was _not_ teacher material. Not anywhere close to such.

So when she cleared her throat, she was very angry to discover that not a single student looked in her direction. She tried repeatedly, until Madam Pince took her wand and literally threw her out.

The librarian was startled to hear the cheer of the students for the act, and though she would later deny it, she rather liked the sound. Evidently she didn't mind the students studying, so long as they were quiet and respectful of her precious books.


	20. Chapter 20

Umbridge was positively livid by the end of the week. Not a single student even attempted to come into her classroom! Every single class, they went straight to the library and avoided her class like the plague. It was maddening!

Eventually she registered a complaint with the teachers, and got a rather interesting response. Apparently they were well aware of the behavior and didn't envy her in the least. It was Snape who told her _why_ they never bothered to come to class.

"They don't respect you. One of the Prefects happens to be a good judge of Defense teachers, and if they don't like you, then the chances of you being a good teacher is rather remote. Out of the teachers we've had so far, only two hadn't gone missing at the end of the year. The other two were either killed or declared missing presumed dead."

"And _why_ haven't you mentioned this to the school governors?" she demanded.

"Because the two I mentioned were either possessed by a malignant spirit or a noted pedophile. Either way, the only chance you have of getting them to attend your class is to figure out why the Prefect in question doesn't like you and fix it. Otherwise you'll have no students all year," he said flatly.

So she spent the next month talking to the Prefects personally. Snape never mentioned _which _prefect it was, and she suspected it was one of the Slytherin ones. After all, what Gryffindor could possibly get the entire school to follow them in a mass revolt of a class? They were the foolhardy, brash students without a lick of common sense among them.

* * *

Kushina listened to Draco's complaints about the new teacher with patience. The woman had been trying to get on the good side of the wrong prefects in the hopes of getting the students to join her class. Draco was her chief target, because of his father.

He was getting tired of telling the woman he was a Black now, not a Malfoy.

Ever since he took his mother's maiden name, he had noted a change in the Slytherin house. It was like he was declaring, only not in so many words, that he would not support the Dark Lord. That he would remove himself from the crimes of his father and become his own person. The fact that his mother approved and agreed with his decision was only a bonus.

Strangely, this didn't change the house dynamic that much in Slytherin. If anything, Draco earned more respect from his fellow snakes with that move than he would have if he had stayed a Malfoy.

Some, because he was declaring he was strong enough with depending on his father. Some because it meant that he was a neutral party and didn't hold their allegiance against them. But there were sadly quite a few that liked him more as a Black because of the status it gave him.

The Black family was a Most Ancient and Noble House, the Malfoy was just Noble and wealthy...at least by appearances anyway. Draco knew most of it was illegal, which meant if the goblins ever found evidence his father would be in a lot of trouble.

Draco wasn't petty enough to put his father in the poorhouse. While he didn't agree with him over which side to take, he did care enough not to do that to him.

Despite all this, Umbridge seemed to zone in on him like a hawk with prey in it's sights. Apparently that was how she ended up being the new Defense teacher.

She was an extreme suck up and sub par witch. Finding that out only made it that much harder for her to get students in her class.

Kushina patted his back in sympathy, and the two resumed patrol. It seemed like the only ones of their tiny group that didn't get the prefect position were Luna and Hermione.

"So what are we studying this year?"

During the first Defense club, Kushina focused on dodging curses and learning how to anticipate which spell was being cast by watching their opponent. Second year, she taught them relatively useful spells while out in the field. Third year she had focused on how to tell when the person in front of you was the real thing or a fake. That had been a rather amusing year, since Kushina had learned quite by accident that she was a metamorphamagus like Nymphadora Tonks who had graduated her first year there. Apparently that little bit of magic was the reason her hair did the nine way split...though the Kyuubi certainly added to it.

As a result, she quizzed Tonks about the ability, and was soon able to control how she looked to her delight. This at least explained why henge always came naturally to her...

* * *

Umbridge was on the warpath. Draco, irritated beyond belief by her pestering finally informed the woman before the second semester fell that Kushina was the one the students followed, not him. Which meant she had wasted months trying to cozy up to the wrong prefect.

Not even her Decrees were doing any good! She tried to exert more influence on the students with a little help from the Minister, but not a single one paid any mind to her new 'rules'! Even Filch, the dour caretaker, ignored them. Apparently Kushina had gotten on his good side by getting onto the students by telling them to at least wipe their feet if they were outside in the rain, which had cut down on the amount of mud he had to clean up.

That more than anything had endeared her to him, and as a result she was almost never punished if she had gotten caught out of bounds. The teachers and other adults liked her too much to do anything to her.

So, in a fit of rage, Umbridge decided to call her out because of the fact that she had inadvertently gotten the students to avoid her class. Kushina went out of boredom more than anything...and left that office in an apoplectic fit of rage.

That _woman_...if she could even be called that... actually made her use such appalling quills! If she used them on the other children, then there was no telling what sort of damage she could do.

She would have to go. And unfortunately for her, Kushina was very good at getting rid of bad teachers. Any who would willingly torture a student for such a small crime is definitely worth using her small book of ideas that she used on people she really didn't like.

* * *

Umbridge was unusually pleased. She believed in her foolishness, that she had made her point very clear and that the students would start to attend her class. The lies she kept feeding the Minister were beginning to pile up. Not that he knew about that of course.

She had even gotten the rather pathetic Divination teacher sacked! Useless woman.

It wasn't until she reached her office that she saw red. Everything in there had been trashed, burned and destroyed to the point that repairing anything was impossible.

What she didn't noticed was that all of her important papers, like letters to the Minister, her diary, and anything that could be used against her were not in the burned pile. Someone with knowledge of how to blackmail and destroy evidence had been in the room, and gone through it with a fine toothed comb.

It wouldn't been until the next semester when Umbridge found herself in shackles and chains, when the Aurors were informed by a reliable source that she brought blood quills and used them on a minor for non important documents. That kind of thing was illegal, because blood could be used in dark rituals...even when it was dried.

Umbridge didn't know that, and she had kept the papers she had Kushina signed with her special quill in the desk with the others. When the blood revealed to be from several prominent families, (including the Blacks, when she dragged Draco into her office...which was the only reason he told her the prefect she actually needed. He was smart, because he knew the damage even dried blood could cause if used properly.) she landed herself in some seriously hot water.

Kushina had the brilliant idea to call Narcissa in, since Draco mentioned the tensions at home. She seemed happy for an excuse not to deal with Voldemort being in her home, and Lucius didn't seem to notice that she had packed all of _her_ belongings and left the house leaving only things that could be replaced easily, like clothes.

Once he got the letter that she wasn't coming home and was going to live with a friend for a while, he would be in a frightful mood. The fact was that Selene was more than happy to let Narcissa stay with them if it meant avoiding her husband and being forced to pick the wrong side.

Clearly Draco got his survival tendencies from his mother, because Narcissa could tell in a heartbeat that Kushina was not like Dumbledore. She wouldn't mess around when it came to war, and she would most likely win before anyone got used to the fact that the Girl-Who-Lived wasn't that shy about killing.

While Draco wasn't happy to have his mother there for an entire semester, he still preferred it over his mother getting killed because she was firmly on Kushina's side. And the fact was that she was a spy for Kushina, since she knew the location of over 75 percent of the Dark Lord's bases, and he was a creature of habit.

* * *

Kushina kept getting odd dreams, and in a fit of irritation, decided to act on them. Really, these OWLs weren't that difficult for someone good enough to act as the Defense teacher's assistant. There was even word that she would get the Head Girl position early because the teachers knew she could handle it.

Apparently you had to be prefect for at least a year before you got that one.

Since she felt like she was walking into an ambush, she warned Narcissa who told her that she was...and took only Minato. Luna had yet to have her 'first kill' cherry popped, and Minato wanted it to stay that way until she reached Konoha where it was a semi requirement.

* * *

_Thestrals,_ Kushina thought, _are one of the most interesting horses I have ever seen. They weren't even freaked by my Kyuubi chakra. We definitely need to bring some home with us..._

Kushina was rather surprised that the spectral horses weren't freaked out by the fox inside her. They were the first magical creature who didn't shy away from her.

Even the unicorns were freaked until they got used to her presence and started coming up to her. Once they figured out that the fox wasn't her, they came close enough to pet them...but that was it. The centaurs just ignored her, because she reeked of blood to them.

Kushina made her way down into the Ministry with Minato right behind her. When Narcissa heard of the dreams, she told her how to get to that particular door and what the number she had to punch into the phone to get it to work.

It didn't take long for the two to make their way down into the Department of Mysteries.

Normally, Kushina would have gone into this Hall of Prophecies and destroyed the thing.

But she had another mission in mind. She could destroy the Hall without having to listen to what could be a load of tripe with ease. Hell, Minato could do it with his still incomplete Rasen-Shuriken which always went out of control.

Kushina was there to destroy anything and everything the magical world could use to drag her back like Dumbledore did. If there was any place to do so, this was it. Snape had mentioned that this was the same department Dumbledore got the original ritual from.

Between the two of them, any and all research that dealt with dragging people halfway cross the world and through time was confiscated or destroyed after being copied. As a safety measure, the two swiped half the time turners before they destroyed the cabinet.

It wasn't until they passed an odd room with an arch that Kushina got an unsettling chill that went down her spines.

The last time she had that feeling, Madara Uchiha showed up and unleashed the Kyuubi.

"Minato, can you lace that room with seals on all entrances?" she asked.

"What kind?"

"The kind will explode if a little chakra went into it. That arch gives me the same feeling that bastard Uchiha gave before he let him out..."

Minato nodded, pale, and went to work. In no time at all, the room was rigged to blow if anyone used chakra on it. If Kushina was that spooked by something so innocent, then something was definitely wrong with that arch. For good measure he laced the arch itself with enough explosives to take out the Hokage Mountain.

If that didn't help her worries, then something was really wrong.

"Hall of Prophecies...what a load of tripe," said Kushina with a snort.

"How do you want to do this?"

His eyes widened when he saw her take a Fuuma shuriken, laced it with as many explosive tags as she dared, and began to spin it wildly in her hand.

"Kushina, be reasonable...!"

She looked at him with amusement as she said...

"I don't _do _reasonable when it comes to ambushes."

She let the shuriken fly, then set it off with a fireball with the door still open. Kushina and Minato ran like hell through the corridors, their shinobi reflexes narrowly saving them from the shockwave.

Minato sighed, then figured if she was going to be difficult, he may as well join her.

A series of secondary and louder explosions went off behind them, and they ran to the street. By the time they reached Hogwarts, both were grinning like mad. This was the first time in ages that they had ever gone all out and performed a proper mission, and they were savoring the feeling.

Two days later they read the results of their little side trip to the Ministry.

* * *

_**Department of Mysteries destroyed, years of research ruined!**_

The more the genin read, the more they started to stare at Kushina and Minato with surprise. Finally Neville voiced what they were all thinking.

"Why didn't you take us?"

The two started laughing, hard, as if that was the funniest thing they heard all day.

They didn't notice or care about the disapproval on the old goats face.

* * *

Voldemort cursed violently, throwing spells at any minion that dared to move or cause him to notice them. He was beyond pissed at the moment, for good reason.

Instead of following through on the compulsion charm laced with hints on where to go, the silly girl destroyed the prophecy without even once trying to retrieve it! And she destroyed the Department before he could steal the secrets it held within, like the time turners!

It seemed he would have to do without the prophecy, unless he could capture the old goat and torture that information out of him. Which wasn't likely as he was one of the few that could hold their own against him. Though what really annoyed him was that several of his inner guard got either killed or so badly injured that they would be in St. Mungo's for a long time, even _with_ magic aiding the healing.

Among those killed was Lucius Malfoy. The only people who cried for him were the politician's he bribed with his money, which was now Narcissa's until Draco turned 17. The paperwork to disinherit Draco had another week to go through, because the goblins weren't going to speed up the process like they did for Sirius' paperwork to make Kushina his heir unless he had a child of his own.

Now it would never be. Draco was a Malfoy by blood, so he got his rightful half of the inheritance.


	21. Chapter 21

After the destruction of the Department of Mysteries (and a few minor departments no one particularly cared about or knew) Voldemort took the chance and claimed he had done the deed, which annoyed Kushina, even if she decided to allow that ruse to continue.

Hey, she didn't want to get arrested for destroying several Departments, and she sure as hell wasn't paying the damages.

With the fact he was back now fully out in the open, the magical world was in something of a panic. Then the murders started to happen...only it wasn't on the end of the innocent muggleborns.

Death Eaters began showing up dead or injured badly enough that the Aurors could literally chuck them into cells without any trouble at least once every other day. Someone was cleaning out the magical communities and not giving Voldemort a chance to really kick off his private war with Dumbledore.

And between the two sides, only _one_ had a good idea who was doing the attacking.

* * *

Kushina took a long shower in Longbottom Manor. Augusta was more than happy to help the war effort, especially since Kushina's methods were actually doing something. As payment for allowing them to use their family home as a base, Kushina and the others took out the Lestrange trio first.

Narcissa wasn't happy about her sister being killed, but she at least admitted that the woman had died quick. Kushina told her that she had killed her without causing any real pain, and that she never bothered to torture or interrogate her. Considering how insane Bellatrix was, and how worse it had gotten because of Azkaban, it was the best they could do.

Once she was done, she joined Neville in their daily strategy meeting. Outside, several large foxes patrolled the area, not letting any odd smells go unchecked. In the lake, the toads kept an eye above and below. With the wards and seals around the manor, it was far more secure than Grimmauld place.

Kushina had moved Walpurga with the other portraits, and to everyone's surprise, she got along famously with Augusta. Apparently the both had problems with Molly attitude. Which, when Kushina thought about it, made a lot of sense.

Molly had entered Walpurga's home and acted like she owned the place. She was rude, and a bad guest. And the way she treated the family heirlooms would have angered even the most civil host. Kushina tried to get along with her, but the fact was that the woman coddled those below the age of twenty and had the voice of a harpy. It was a miracle Arthur was still married to her.

(Strangely enough, she got along with Arthur just fine.)

Kushina looked at her genin, who by now could at least be called low level chunin. Their attacks on the Death Eaters had changed them, helping them to mature into their own person. Draco was now a skilled interrogator that Ibiki would be delighted to have on his team.

It had come as a real shock to everyone in Slytherin that Draco firmly stood against the Dark Lord, who his father served faithfully in the last war. But when they learned who he sided with, they understood.

"So what do we have for tomorrow?" asked Kushina.

"We hit the Macnair family tomorrow. Crabbe and Goyle's little show of siding with us made it a lot easier to find the hide outs. Their fathers thought that they would join them, but they are more loyal to me," said Draco.

It had come as little surprise when the two bodyguards who originally followed Draco everywhere decided to join their side instead of Voldemort. Kushina had been nothing but kind to them, even helping with homework or improving their fighting ability. And Draco was the only friend they knew they could trust, and he often defended them, even when they said something that was incorrect. He didn't berate them if they didn't understand.

After the initial meeting with the Dark Lord, who had been in a foul mood that day and had actually hurt Goyle, the two wanted nothing to do with him. They didn't want to join someone they didn't respect.

Kushina had welcomed them with open arms, and got them started on how to mold chakra and some advanced taijutsu forms. She didn't berate or mock them when they did it wrong. She just corrected them gently and told them why that form worked the way it did. As a result they were as loyal to her as they were to Draco.

"Which families are we hitting this month?" asked Minato. Selene and Xeno had agreed to go to Konoha with Sirius, to meet Minato's son Naruto. The kid would be real happy with his expanding family...and the fact that they planned to spoil him rotten.

"We're paying a visit to the Zabini, Nott, Greengrass, Moon, and Perks families to see where their allegiance lays. We've sent them a warning ahead, so they should be easy to deal with. The Bones girls would like to speak to you, and from what I understand the Abbots, Patils, Changs, and Wood families will be there as well," said Draco.

"When is this?"

"Next week, after we deal with the MacNair family and see how Durmstrang turns out. Beauxbatons has already sent a letter ahead saying that they will only join the fight if Dumbledore has nothing to do with our operations. Even then the most they will do is send their older students to help," said Hermione.

"I heard Dumbledore wanted to send Madame Maxime with Hagrid to speak to the giants," said Neville.

"Good thing we converted him to our side second year," said Kushina.

She rolled out a map, and the lot of them planned which part of the country to hit and when. Her plan was simple enough.

Take out the inner circle, which left only the new recruits who weren't so good at aiming their spells. Hell, most of them still had trouble casting the Unforgivables!

It had the added benefit of robbing Voldemort of his financial backing. With the loss of the Malfoy fortune, he had taken a real hit.

* * *

Kushina did a duck and roll out of the floo, which was one of her least favorite ways to travel. She could tolerate apparition, but she hated port keys and floo.

At once, over 20 wands were pointed at her.

She got out of the way, unconcerned.

"Prove you are Ms. Uzumaki," said Amelia Bones. She wasn't taking any chances.

Kushina merely thought of what the civilian council did to her son before she sent people to properly take care of him until her mission was over. Her KI raised along with her hair, which did the usual nine way split.

"It's her Auntie," said Susan.

"Yeah, no one else can do that weird thing with their hair, or have such a scary aura like that," said Hannah.

Kushina watched them all carefully. They appeared to be the families she was here to meet. Behind her was Minato, Neville and Luna. Draco and Hermione were busy brewing healing and truth potions.

"So...I assume you wish to know why I am not siding with the old goat?" she said calmly.

"Among other things. I for one would like to know if you are the one responsible for the sudden increase in deaths among the pure blood factions," said Amelia Bones.

"Mostly me...and my team. I, unlike that manipulative old goat, intend to end this war without involving innocents and using half assed tactics," said Kushina.

"Why? Why would the Girl-Who-Lived act so...ruthlessly?" asked what she assumed was the Patils father.

Kushina laughed, her amusement evident.

"Because I'm not a teenager at all. The idiot who runs the school pulled me from another time without realizing it. The only reason I look sixteen is because the ritual he used force my body to revert into over half my actual age. I wasn't exactly pleased to go through puberty a second time, I can tell you."

That got quite a few chuckles from the women in the room.

"How old are you really?" asked Amelia.

"I'm in my thirties. The blond boy behind me is about a year or so older than I am, and would have remained that way if Shinigami-sama hadn't placed his soul into an infant so he could be my back up."

One of the Asians in the back, probably the Changs, spoke up.

"You know the God of Death? Personally?" asked the older male. Probably Cho's father. Cho and Cedric Diggory had moved out of the country after their wedding a month after leaving school...Kushina had appeared near the edge of it to keep the Death Eaters from interfering.

Kushina nodded.

"I assume you all know of the Deathly Hallows? Or at least heard the tale of three brothers who were all granted a boon from the God of Death?"

Most of the people nodded.

"Shinigami-sama decided to make the best of an irritating situation when he realized I had missed my time to die in my own time. So he asked me to retrieve those items for him in exchange for a free ride back to my homeland in the East. And when I informed him of the soul pieces that the Dark Lord made, he asked me to deal with those as well, since they are an affront to nature and go against his order...not to mention the paperwork for even one of those is so bad that it actually makes him cry just thinking about it..." said Kushina.

That got a chuckle from Amelia Bones. She had cases that bad once.

Kushina answered all their questions, being as truthful as she could. That seemed to make the families very happy, because every time they tried to talk to Dumbledore about the war the best they could hope for was half answers or outright lies.

Amelia took the fact that Kushina killed the Death Eaters with grace. When the girl told her who really took out the Department of Mysteries, she looked very annoyed but she wasn't going to arrest the two on the spot. The fact was that in doing so she denied Voldemort what he was after, even if she didn't learn that bit until after. They found her tactics, while brutal, rather refreshing.

The old Order, of which Amelia was very well aware of and ignored any an all orders from the Minister to get rid of them, was in truth rather useless.

They had a poor system of getting information, their approach was so half hearted that it was almost useless, and their methods of recruiting was so bad it was a miracle that anyone even joined. And they never acted in a timely manner with the information they _did_ have!

It had annoyed Amelia greatly that even with the so called Great Dumbledore leading them, they were so useless in real life!

Which was probably why Kushina had taken to leaving a different calling card on the bases they demolished. When asked why she was so strong by Hermione, Kushina finally told them of what was inside her.

Finding out that she had a Great Demon Fox inside of her was surprising, but not enough that their trust in her changed any. With that kind of thing inside her, taking out the Dark Lord was much, much easier and realistic.

* * *

By the time she left, she had more supporters to help ease the magical communities into a much more stable century. Neville would prove to be a strong leader for the magical world after she left.

Draco had no intention of remaining in a place where he was somewhat expected to marry someone who was likely his second cousin or at least related to him rather closely. Hermione was more interested in learning all she could about seals, jutsu and Bijuu in general. She knew full well there wasn't much she could do for a few decades at least in the magical world, which was the main reason she was joining Kushina when she left.

Besides, the moment she learned the War was beginning again, she convinced her parents to move to the village. They were rather surprised to learn that while the Village boasted several medical benefits, they didn't have dentists.

They were currently running a very successful practice in Konoha, and their skills were in much higher demand.

Luna, of course would follow her brother anywhere. Her parents were already delighted to have a grandson to spoil rotten, and Naruto was no longer starved for attention. Xeno had decided to expand on his magazine and created a new one that made it easier for shinobi to get the latest rumors. It was made so that one had to use chakra just to read the good stuff, which made it much harder for civilians to hear something they shouldn't.

As it stood, Jiraiya was rather quick to help fund that project, and he started sending reports to Sarutobi through the magazine...along with another contact which only the old man was aware of.

Crabbe and Goyle, who had already figured out that because of their parents affiliations with the Dark Lord that they would have no other place to go in the magical world, decided to join Draco. At the very least people wouldn't look down on them for not being very bright in Konoha.

* * *

It was during the fifth base attack that she had a run in with Voldemort. He was still rather pissed about the prophecy ambush...and the graveyard incident. He had started to send his Death Eaters out to retrieve his soul pieces...only to find little notes with a fox on them that said "You snooze, you lose."

Kushina smirked at him, not that he could see it behind her mask. Each time she went after one of his bases, she wore her ANBU outfit along with the new Fox mask that Sarutobi sent through Jiraiya. It had the same nine tassels at the back that the previous had, all blood red in color. They were mostly decoration, since she normally held the mask on with chakra strings.

Her long red hair, which went past her waist, lay flat against her head. It was the biggest indication as to _who_ was behind the mask. Her ANBU vest went down past her waist a little, and under it was a long sleeved shirt that just barely ended at her wrists, and they had the Uzumaki orange swirl covering her hands. She wore a short red skirt that was over a pair of long black pants that had white bandages on the left leg that held her kunai holster. In her right hand was the Uzumaki sword that only the head or the rightful heir could carry at any time.

Since she was the oldest living Uzumaki of the main clan, that made her the head of the clan...it also didn't hurt that Mito had named her the heir. Mito had lead the clan for years before the Kyuubi was transferred to Kushina and she died.

"Well, well...if it isn't the insolent little Potter brat," he sneered.

"And if it isn't the Orochimaru wannabe. What's the matter snake's bitch, have you lost your little toys?" she smirked right back. Her tone was arrogant and set just right to irritate him greatly.

"So you were the one to destroy my horcruxes... And here I was wondering if that old meddler had finally grown a back bone and gotten someone competent to do his work for him," said Voldemort.

Kushina snorted, her voice full of contempt.

"It was just _your_ bad luck that you happen to piss me off more than that old bastard. As it stands your torture will last a lot longer than his once my mission is over."

"Oh? The Poster Child of the Light isn't afraid to get her hands dirty?"

Kushina had to cackle at that.

"Child of Light? That's the best you can come up with? Let me tell you exactly what I plan to do to Dumbledore and then tell me that I fit that ridiculous title," she cackled. It was her best Anko-style cackle, set to creep the hell out of the sane people.

It was very effective on the cowardly Death Eaters, who had been recently recruited.

When she was finished, many had lost their lunches at how descriptive they were, others were staring at her in impressed shock.

Voldemort was actually staring at her in something akin to absolute disbelief. This...was not what he had expected to deal with at all. The Potter girl, the same infant who took him out fifteen years ago...was more sadistic than _he_ was! And she had no issues with killing, as was evident by the fact she had been taking out almost entire families without hesitation.

He was dealing with a different class of killer than he was used to.

Unseen, he didn't notice until too late that Neville Longbottom, the Healer of their merry band of killers, sneak up behind his Death Eaters and use a large sword to kill his snake Nagini. The sword in question was laced with so much Kyuubi-chakra from Kushina that Neville could barely hold it. The moment the sword took off the head of the snake, a loud horrible scream was heard from it's body.

Voldemort swore creatively as Neville apparated away before any of the Death Eaters could realize what he had done. His snake...and his most recent Horcrux was destroyed so utterly that his soul fragment didn't stand a chance.

Before he could cast a single killing curse at her, she had vanished...but not before leaving them a parting gift of a very high powered explosive tag ball that went off in their faces. Out of the 50 Death Eaters there, only ten would survive...and Voldemort would be cursing her name for weeks.

That was probably what prompted the attack on the train.


	22. Chapter 22

Kushina's last raid of the Death Eater bases gave them enough forewarning of the attack that Amelia was able to alert all the students to use alternate means of transportation. If they couldn't, then the Fox Alliance would help pay for them to take the Knight bus.

The only ones taking the train was Kushina and a large team of skilled Aurors who knew that they were to curse first and ask questions later. Amelia had come through for the girl, so for today she would have a full force of people who could back her up. This included brooms that were at least up to date. If anything happened, they were to take to the sky immediately, and that included the conductor.

The Death Eaters didn't know what hit them. When one of the fliers tried to take them out by destroying the tracks, they found themselves with a full contingent of Aurors and one pissed off Jounin kunoichi casting deadly curses at them without hesitation in seconds. While the train was lost, not a single life was taken by the crash.

By the time all was said and done, the there had been only five casualties on Kushina's side, and only a few Death Eaters survived the assault. Most of them had been taken out by the Aurors, and a good portion had been killed during the flight. When they landed, Kushina went among their group, congratulating them on a successful counter attack. She comforted those who had lost their friends or partners to the Death Eaters. The Order didn't show up until fifteen minutes after the fighting was over with, and they found themselves with looks of disgust from the Aurors.

Needless to say Dumbledore didn't win any supporters that day.

* * *

Narcissa was looked at with awe and absolute shock at the Teacher's table. It was rather simple really, and she didn't blame the children for giving her such incredulous looks.

She was the first teacher that they had ever had who came back for a second year, even if she had appeared for only the second half last year. Some were wondering if the DADA curse was finally broken, or if she had some sort of luck.

Either way, no one was going to miss her class, since she was one of those teachers Kushina took to immediately.

Kushina, of course arrived halfway through the feast looking rather pleased. She had changed out of her ANBU outfit into the school one, and this year she had a new addition to her uniform.

The teachers overruled Dumbledore and made her head girl a year early. It wasn't like she wouldn't have gotten the position anyway next year, and she was so good at controlling the halls that it only made sense.

Minato looked at his wife (it was made official through a private ceremony at the Longbottom Manor with all the appropriate people there. Luna was her matron of honor. Kushina and Minato mostly looked at it like it was a renewal of their vows.) and she gave him a thumbs up. On his uniform was the Head Boy badge. Like Kushina, the teachers had overruled Dumbledore. The two were better leaders than any of the other older students, and it made the most sense. Besides it gave them enough authority that should the school be attacked that they could get the students to follow without question.

* * *

Narcissa decided the best solution to teaching the students, who obviously knew that the war the previous generation had dealt with was almost back to full force, was to have Kushina teach them what to do when the castle was finally attacked.

The fourth years and above were taught how to improve their casting and aim. Third years and below were showed how to do basic first aid and how to evacuate to the Chamber of Secrets which was renovated for students to use as a shelter from the fighting.

Snape was busy brewing healing potions for the upcoming battle, and they were stored in certain areas around the chamber. There wasn't a chance that the hospital wing had enough room for the wounded. Poppy, of course, was designated as the head healer. She could get to the heart of the wound in short order, and Neville was right beside her.

They kept to the usual teachings, but they were augmented by the new classes. No one argued about this change, and the first years didn't know that the scheduling was unusual.

Students still went to Hogsmeade, as if the world went on, and acted like outside the walls there wasn't a war.

But they did try hard to ignore the large foxes guarding all approaches, and the centaurs keeping watchful eyes on the skies. The centaur herd had agreed to at least help them deal with any intruders, if only so that they could be left in peace.

Kushina had told them of Konoha, and they were still arguing whether or not they would move there. The fact was that Konoha had more forests, and if the centaurs agreed to guard them then they would be welcomed with open arms.

Everything went about like it did normally, aside from a few changes here and there.

Christmas came and passed, and the only difference was that the message home to her son included news that they would be returning very soon. Naruto couldn't wait to see his parents in person, and was literally bouncing off the walls in anticipation. While he was no longer alone, he still wanted to meet his parents.

It wasn't until near February that the castle wards felt the first attack.

* * *

Kushina was eating ramen at the time, and relaxing. The moment one of her summons barged in, she finished her meal fast and got the report.

Voldemort had arrived. She was about to leave the Room of Requirement (which usually turned itself into a passable recreation of the Ichiraku ramen stand) when it suddenly shifted. She blinked as she found herself in a room full of junk.

_O-kay?_ She thought confused. But then she felt it. The feeling of a horcrux! She realized what the Room was telling her.

She followed it until she found a diadem, and recognized it from the book Xeno lent her about the Founders. The Lovegoods were actually the descendants of Ravenclaw herself (the Potters were the last of the Gryffindor ironically enough) so they had been looking for the diadem that Ravenclaw once possessed for a while.

Apparently Voldemort had found it first and turned it into a soul piece. She channeled the Kyuubi's chakra into the item, and with a shriek the soul was exorcised. Which meant that she only had one last one to take care of...and then Dumbledore.

Finally, her mission was about to end!

She dashed outside, to find the students awaiting her orders. Someone had spotted the infamous masks and cloaks. They were fully surrounded, and not just by Death Eaters.

Vampires, Giants and Werewolves who followed Fenrir Greyback were there as well. There were even Dementors, though those were being held back by the wards...and surprisingly enough the small herd of Unicorns that lived in the forest. Apparently Unicorns hated them more than Kushina did, and their horns could wound or even kill a dementor if given the chance.

Kushina took a deep, calming breath...and started to give out orders.

"Fifth years, lead the third years and below to the Chamber! The password is 'Sanctuary'! Sixth years, I want people on those towers! If those bastards make a move I want to know where! Seventh years, start boarding up windows on the lower floors! I don't want them getting in or getting a lucky shot!"

Where there would normally be a disorganized mess was now ordered chaos. This had been drilled into their heads since first semester, and if they failed it could cost them their lives, or the life of someone they knew.

Minato was already with the teachers, leading them to their designated positions. Each one was in charge of a specific group of students. Houses were no longer an issue. For the first time since it's creation, the students were standing alongside their longtime rivals as comrades if not friends. This was a siege, and they were determined to win with as few casualties as possible.

It would take an hour at least for the Aurors to get through the wards, so they had to last until then.

"What are we dealing with?" she asked.

"We have Giants standing near the village. They've evacuated with the students to the Chamber and are helping to keep order," said Minato.

"Werewolves and Vampires are in the forest. The centaurs and foxes are keeping them in sight. The dementors are currently trying to intimidate the unicorns, though they aren't backing off," chirped the tiny Flitwick.

"It looks like the majority of his Death Eaters are at the gates, just waiting for some sort of signal," said McGonagall.

"I think we should try to..." said Dumbledore, but he was rudely cut off by Kushina with a well thrown shuriken.

"You will keep your mouth shut and stay away from our plans. You've bungled up this private little war of yours enough, and I won't allow your hippie crap kill the students!" she barked.

Shocked by the way she dismissed his ideas, he glared at her. Ever since he brought her to Hogwarts, nothing had gone right! And there was a foul aura she let off whenever she was angry that lead him to believe she was Darker than Voldemort himself. Clearly he would have to take her out before she became an even bigger threat.

He left, but he would return once she was weakened fighting the Dark Lord.

* * *

Kushina went to his office, ignoring the irritating phoenix. Fawkes did _not_ like her after the way she nearly drowned and boiled him with a water style dragon made of hot water. The hat had loved it though, and had laughed itself off the shelf when he saw her nearly kill the bird to the point that it had to resurrect itself.

The sorting hat was rather somber...but it did have something that it could give to her that would help in the battle to come.

"_Uzumaki...I have something that rightfully belongs to you that may be of use,"_ it said slowly.

"Oh?"

"_Inside of me is a sword that belonged to your great-great ancestor Godric Gryffindor. I was instructed never to part with it until I found someone worthy to carry his line...or when his heir was in danger."_

"How do I get this sword?"

"_Simply place your hand inside the brim, and it should fall right into it."_

Kushina carefully removed the hat, and reached inside. She felt something cold and metal fall neatly into her hand, and what she pulled out was a long goblin made sword...though it was very tacky. No real sword should ever display so many jewels.

As if guided by her thoughts, the sword changed in her hands, though the inscription never changed. Now instead of a gaudy sword she carried a long tachi that fit perfectly into her hand. The weight and balance was perfect for her, and a few experimental swings proved that it fit naturally into her style.

"_Godric had a message for his descendant. Would you like to hear it?"_

"Might as well."

Without warning, the hat morphed like the sword, only this time there was a young man with deep crimson red hair in a neat pony tail and sea green eyes. He didn't look like his portrait at all.

"_**I know what you're thinking, I don't look like my pictures,"**_ he chuckled.

"Actually, that was what I was thinking. I do have a question though...why do you look so much like an Uzumaki?"

"_**Because that was my clan, so long ago. I was the last living descendant of the Rikudo Sannin, and I was so tired of the wars that I came here to restart my life. It was there I met Helga and the others. Salazar wasn't very happy that I had so thoroughly enchanted the girls when I was a foreigner. So when I had my portrait done I changed my looks to insure that no one knew."**_

"So what was the message you wanted to pass to your descendant?"

"_**I wanted to ask the one who drew my sword, the sword of the Uzumaki, to protect this castle in my stead. But I have been watching you for all these years and you did it without even being asked."**_

"I cannot stay here to guard the castle. I have a home of my own back in our homeland. I should tell you though that Whirlpool has long since been destroyed and the clan is all but extinct now."

"_**I do not blame you for wanting to return to your family. But if you can get the next headmaster or mistress to keep the new lessons going, you will have done what I wanted anyway. It was impossible in my time to convince the others to even consider a somewhat military class in the mandatory roster. Perhaps, after this, the school will finally throw off the ties that held them back for centuries."**_

"If you want change to happen, then you need to do it yourself. McGonagall is next in line to become the head of the school, and once I'm done with Dumbledore she'll become Headmistress anyway."

"_**I am unable to maintain a body to insure change is made, and I doubt I have enough time to talk to her. I'm pushing it as is," **_said Godric.

"_Oh, I don't know about that,"_ said Shinigami-sama.

Kushina blinked but was quick to bow to the god. Her job was almost done, so he was mostly likely here for Godric. Godric bowed with her, since he was from the same area she was.

"_Considering her mission is almost over, I could possibly overlook the fact your personality and memories have been around for a while longer. If you are willing to serve me until your time naturally runs out, I might even give you the same deal as her husband," _said Shinigami-sama pleasantly.

Kushina blinked. This was unusual.

"_**What are your terms?"**_ Godric asked.

"_It's simple enough. I don't want these soul pieces to reemerge once her mission is over with, and I could always use someone on this side of the world to act as my avatar like she is at the moment. At most you would become a Reaper who could act in my stead."_

"He could always take over the Defense position. It's not like he could be any worse than three of the past six we've had," she muttered.

"_**So if I insure they don't return...and take out any that I do find, I can return to the living until my time naturally runs out?"**_

"_Exactly. Though you won't appear until she returns to her homeland, because the other gods get angry if another has too many avatars in one region. I'm pushing it by having her husband here with her."_

"_**Any chance I could pay her a visit every once in a while?"**_

"_I see no reason why not. Her village and the surrounding areas are all in my jurisdiction. The Elemental Areas are mostly my problem anyway, and I have a few other avatars running loose over there."_

"I can work with that. If you have any kids, just send them over and we'll train them," said Kushina.

Godric grinned. This was the best deal he had ever heard!

"But before I go back down there, I do have one question. What is your real name? If you are an Uzumaki, then Godric can't possibly be your real name," she asked.

"_**My birth name is actually Raion Washi Uzumaki."**_

Kushina stared at him.

"Your name is Lion Eagle Whirlpool?" she said incredulous.

He shrugged.

"_**Why do you think my name was changed to GRYFFINdor? It was the closest they could think of at the time."**_

She rubbed her head.

"I'm going to leave before I get a roaring headache from this conversation," she said.

She went downstairs in time to find everyone in position...and Voldemort arriving at last. This was apparently the signal they were waiting for, because as one the opposing forces began their march on the castle.

The battle for Hogwarts and the magical communities future had begun.


	23. Chapter 23

Kushina watched with amusement as the teachers and students alike gaped at how fast Minato was going. He wasn't called the Yellow Flash for nothing, and armed with his recently replaced special kunai, the Death Eaters didn't stand a chance.

Voldemort kept trying to make his way to the castle, but the going was slow with the battles between the foxes and werewolves, the centaurs and vampires and the unicorns against his dementors.

The Giants were being fought by what appeared to be massive toads.

It took him an hour, casting curses every which way more often than not hitting his own men. The yellow blur on the battlefield was too fast to be hit by a curse, though not for lack of trying. The odd three pronged knives that had come out of nowhere littered the grounds. Each had a strange engraving on it.

Suddenly the blond blur vanished...and something even more horrifying appeared.

A man with silvery gray hair, one calm eye with the other covered up by the same headband as the brat had worn against him, and wearing what appeared to be a standard uniform. He was at least as tall as Snape was, and he had a rather bored aura about him.

Beside him was a man about the same height, if slightly taller with a bowl hair cut that had an unnatural shine, HUGE freaking eyebrows, and was wearing an entirely green outfit with orange leg warmers. He had an aura that made Voldemort want to run far, far away if he could.

Without warning the two men started embracing, though thankfully he couldn't hear what it was. In the background was the most disturbing sight he would ever have the misfortune to witness.

The infamous Sunset Genjutsu of Youth. He could vaguely hear several of his newest recruits either vomiting, attempted to erase that memory (with absolutely no success since it was still going on, or mercy killing each other.

* * *

_(Elsewhere in the Village Hidden in the Leaf...)_

Kakashi who had been in the middle of a report, pause and gave a horrified shudder. Sarutobi gave him an odd look.

"What's wrong?"

"There has been a grave disturbance in the Youthful force... Somewhere out there someone has recreated Gai's blasted Sunset Genjutsu using me as the opposing person. There is only one way to remedy this," said Kakashi.

"Report first, then you can go get some new porn. I heard Jiraiya's new book came out today. For that kind of mental image, we should both hit the sake hard tonight," said Sarutobi.

"Agreed."

"Kakashi! My eternal rival!" Gai called out when he entered the room.

"GAH! To hell with this! I need my _Icha Icha _before he really does infect me!" said Kakashi, bolting out the window, just barely remembering to open it before he jumped.

"Gai, you need to work on your timing. In the meantime... Haruka, could you please bring me some sake? The strongest you can get your hands on, if you don't mind."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," said his secretary. She was the first in months who had lasted this long, and that because Naruto hadn't driven her insane yet.

He would later pass out with the paperwork already finished by his clones. Minato had finally taken pity on him and told him the trick to avoiding that hell...though he did _not_ appreciate the cameras, video recorders and various other recording devices at the time.

* * *

(Back in England)

Kushina was laughing her ass off as her shadow clones took out half the werewolves, vampires and a good third of the Death Eaters in less than fifteen minutes. At least the people on their side had been warned not to look at the Sunset, though it had been an odd look they had given her in return.

When Voldemort passed Hagrid's hut (he had gone inside long before the battle even started with Fang) Kushina looked at the students and teachers. They were frightened out of their wits, but they were also determined to live through this.

"Everyone, take aim and fire!" she yelled.

With a flare of her KI, the spells sent down from the third floor and up started hitting Death Eaters. Those who were a bit squeamish were told to use any means necessary to make them go down and _stay_ down. Didn't matter if it was a stunner or not, so long as they were down long enough for someone else to deal with them.

When Voldemort went to attack the doors, Kushina activated the seals on the walls and hallways. The only way to get to the attackers in the upper stories was to break the seal, which wasn't going to happen as long as the chakra was running through it.

She had the door open, and Voldemort walked in like he owned the place. He looked at her and sneered.

Kushina smirked. She decided that the best thing to do was to kill him quick and get it over with...so she allowed a cloak to form. Voldemort took half a step back, when he saw the cloak.

He remembered it from the graveyard. Even touching it barehanded burned him worse than any fire and the thing was just now started to heal.

"Avada Kedevra!" he shouted.

Kushina smirked.

"**Unfortunately for you, that paltry spell will never be able to break through my cloak. Shinigami-sama is eager to speak to you, and I plan to send you straight to him,"** she said coldly. Her voice changed under the influence of the fox.

Outside the foxes all howled. They could sense the greatest of their kind being present. With that cloak on, this battle was as good as won.

Kushina darted forward, her tail knocking aside any spells thrown at her. The screams of those about to die were heard all the way to the school, as her chakra burned them without killing them.

When Voldemort went to attack her again, she darted in front of him and used her tail to literally knock his head off. His eyes blinked in surprise, as if he didn't expect to die that easily. His body fell with a loud thud, and all the fighting stopped cold. The Death Eaters stared in shock at the fact that their master, a person they believe was immortal, had died so easily.

From his dead body a pale spirit appeared. Clearly he wasn't going to leave Hogwarts without a fight. Before he could say a word, something else appeared behind _him_.

Shinigami-sama took his sword...and speared it through Voldemort's soul. He looked particularly vindictive about it.

"_You are THE most incredibly annoying pain in the ass, and you're coming with me. Since you think it's funny to split your soul into pieces, you get to deal with the paperwork I've gotten because of that. Then I'll boot your sorry ass into Hell where it rightfully belongs!" _said Shinigami-sama irritably.

Voldemort's soul was screaming the entire way to that office, and then he was forced to deal with the backlog.

As one, the Death Eaters looked at each other, and then surrendered. They weren't stupid enough to fight a woman with the God of Death on her side!

The vampires went back to their homes, and the werewolf packs ran off. Fenrir had been killed near the beginning of the fight, and his head was sealed to give to Remus.

* * *

Kushina was bandaging her wounds. She had gotten a little cut during the fight, and she kept running on Minato's special kunai. Those had been collected by the smaller foxes and sealed into one big scroll for him.

She was tired, but she could still fight if she had to. Using the cloak always wore her out for a few days, and her chakra was always low until she recovered. You would think it was the opposite, but no.

It was to this scene that Dumbledore appeared asking for a moment of her time.

Kushina leveled a fearsome glare at him, but followed.

"I suppose you think you're really clever, getting everyone to follow you like that," he started.

She raised a hand to stop him.

"For your information, I have no intention of leading them after this. One of my clan will remain here to help Neville guide them out of the Dark Ages with McGonagall helping to train the next generation. I'm heading home...once I get the wand that you have on you that is."

Dumbledore glared at her.

"I am not surrendering the Elder Wand to a Dark Witch," he said angrily.

"You won't have a choice. The wand is all that remain of the Hallows, and once I deliver that to Shinigami-sama my job is officially done here. You won't be Headmaster after today Dumbledore," said Kushina.

He raised the Elder Wand. She raised hers...and cast the first spell. While he had years of experience and spells she never even heard of, she had her own experience and enough chakra left inside of her to deal out chunin level jutsu. Her legs ran hard as Dumbledore tried to either kill or incapacitate her.

He knew that if he could control her, he would control more than just Europe. But she was too strong for him to keep on a leash for long, so she had to die.

She grimaced, and realized that perhaps she should call out the big guns.

"Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!" she cried out, and punched the floor. Stone gave way to a marshy muck, and Dumbledore cried out as his right leg broke from under him. The swamp didn't extend very far, because she was on stone and not earth. But it did what she needed as she cast the bone shattering hex on Dumbledore's other leg. There wasn't a chance that he would be able to cast in so much pain.

Kushina took a deep breath and popped a soldier pill. Once it took effect, she was able to deal with Dumbledore.

He would be rushed to St. Mungo's for minimum treatment, as Kushina gave him the full T and I work-over. Several things she had been unaware of had her taking notes for the Aurors. Dumbledore was going to be in a lot of trouble...and his brother was going to be the only one of the Dumbledore line to carry on the legacy.

Shinigami-sama appeared behind her, his eyes alight with amusement.

"He _is_ going to hell once he dies, right?"

"_You better believe it. I will give you a week, so you can get what you need done here. After that you can make your way home from Suna."_

"Fair enough. That will give us a chance to find Tsunade. She can give the hospital the swift kick in the ass it desperately needs."

"_While you insure she has plenty of things to do in the meantime, right?"_

Kushina nodded.

Shinigami-sama cackled like Anko usually did.

"_I am going to be recording your return...that alone is sure to amuse me for a long while!"_

"I aim to please, Shinigami-sama! Once I finally see my son, if you need any other help just let me know! I don't mind doing your missions so long as I don't end up halfway cross the world again!"

"_Deal. At least you don't bitch as much as the others... Seriously...what is with that stupid Jashin-sama this, and Jashin-sama that crap?" _grumbled Shinigami-sama.

Kushina laughed, but agreed wholeheartedly.

"So... It's finally time to leave?" said Minato.

"He's dropping us in Suna, so we can have time to find Tsunade," said Kushina.

* * *

Draco, Narcissa, Hermione, Neville and his family had already been sent to Konoha. Neville and Augusta had gone in the hopes that the Yamanaka family could bring back Frank and Alice. Unlike the Healers at St. Mungo's, the Konoha hospital was well equipped to heal such trauma.

Kushina took one long last look at Hogwarts. Raion, who had recently been revived and was currently working as the new Defense Teacher (McGonagall nearly had a heart attack when she learned he was in fact the real Godric Gryffindor, given a second chance to keep the Horcruxes from being made every again) was rather happy to be back in the castle.

(Kushina had noted with interest the glances the old cat gave Raion, who looked to be about her age physically. She wished them both the best, and only asked for an invite should they ever tie the knot.)

With a deep breath, Shinigami-sama grabbed the two of them and dropped them off in the middle of River country. It was halfway to Suna and Konoha. They were on the very edge of the desert.

She looked at her husband, who was looking at her in shock.

"Kushina...you..."

"What? I didn't get deaged again did I?"

Minato pointed at a nearby stream, and she went to look. Her mouth opened and gaped in absolute shock. Before, she had been in her 16 year old body...now she was back to the same age as she had been when she died.

She was 27 again...and Minato, he was 28. They were their proper ages again!

"Hell...this is going to be a bitch to explain," said Minato.

"Not really. Remember the deal we made with the old monkey? I get a week to cause all sorts of hell for the way they treated Naruto, and in exchange I have to spend a month with Konoha's Green Beast in the morning? By the time I'm through with them it will be a cinch to get a new Civilian council elected. How that bitch Haruno stayed on it so long I have no idea, unless they rigged the vote."

Minato blinked.

"True. With the chaos you plan on doing, slipping back in as Hokage will be much easier once I prove my identity. Kami knows they have it coming," mused Minato.

"Great! Let's find Tsunade! That hospital probably needs to be shaken up as much as the village does!" chirped Kushina.

Minato grinned evilly. It was good to be in the Elemental Countries again.

* * *

Tsunade stared in absolute shock at Kushina and Minato.

"I don't know who the fuck you think you are, taking those forms, but I hope you don't have plans to avoid the hospital any time soon," she snarled. How dare these imposters take the form of her favorite cousin and the brat Jiraiya raised?!

'Kushina' smirked and pinned her with a chakra chain...the same one the real one used. The chakra was identical down to the Kyuubi laced taint.

'Minato' grinned as he used the infamous Hiraishin and in his hand was the Rasengan.

"... But...how?" asked Tsunade.

"Shinigami-sama made us a deal. We did a mission for him, we get to come back. We just finished, and thought you would like to join us on our return home," said Kushina.

"You mean the God of Death decided to give you your lives back? Why?"

"Someone on the other side of the world performed a foul ritual, dragging me there right as I was about to die from the Kyuubi's claw in my gut. Minato was brought back as my back up. I plan to shake that village up...and it would be a good idea to bring you back to insure no one gets killed by accident. Coincidentally we'll be getting rid of the Civilian council and creating a new one, without Danzo."

"What about my debts?"

"Paid in full or I beat whoever is asking at poker. You know how good I am at it," said Kushina with a smirk.

Tsunade grinned with her. It had been a long time since she saw Kushina...and the woman's body cracked under the pressure of that hug she gave her. It was about time she started causing trouble again.

At least they weren't asking her to take the old monkey's place.

Kushina took a deep breath of Fire Country air and whooped. When she saw the gates, her smirk widened as she said "It's good to be home."

* * *

_**~FIN~**_

**Whoot! This is the first time I've started and completed a fic in less than a week! I hope you've all enjoyed it, because the sequel will probably fall into the same pattern as the other fics I've made...which means sporadic updates.**

**I guess the plot bunnies enjoyed working on this as much as I did!**

**To all the people who reviewed, thank you! I appreciate the fact that you take time to point out the little errors made that I can correct and make the fic better. If any of you want to chat or discuss fic ideas, I am on facebook!**


End file.
